Milne defends ‘mainstream’ Greens after Labor attack
Updated
Greens leader Christine Milne has defended her party’s policies as mainstream after a Labor powerbroker called on his party to dump the Greens to the bottom of preferencing at the ballot box.
New South Wales Labor secretary Sam Dastyari says Labor must send a clear message to the electorate and distance themselves from the Greens, who he has described as “extremists not unlike One Nation”.
The NSW Labor secretary told The Weekend Australian that the Labor Party must stop treating the Greens like family and place them last in preferencing in seats where it is in Labor’s best interests to do so.
Mr Dastyari, who leads the faction which counted former senator and Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib among its numbers, will move the motion at next weekend’s New South Wales conference.
His comments come after Victorian Labor yesterday decided to preference Family First ahead of the Greens in a state by-election for the seat of Melbourne.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard owes her minority government in part to an alliance with the Greens, who helped give her the numbers to take power after the 2010 election.
However, Labor’s relationship with the Greens has proven to be somewhat of a poisoned chalice for the Prime Minister, whose negotiations with the Greens included having to back-flip on her promise not to introduce the hugely controversial carbon tax.
Senator Milne was central to those negotiations and says the “outburst” from Mr Dastyari could hurt Ms Gillard at the ballot box.
She says the Greens represent mainstream views and Mr Dastyari’s comments are an “attack on the Labor base”.
Senator Milne also pointed the finger at Labor’s powerbrokers, saying “the faceless men are a part of the Labor disease … not the cure.”
“Labor Party people across the country will be horrified to think that if they vote for Labor they don’t know if they will be electing a Coalition person or a Family First person,” she said.
“What it shows is the faceless men in the Labor party do not have any principle any more, or any idea of what Labor stands for other than winning office.
“I think this attack from Sam Dastyari is actually an attack on the Labor base.”
But Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury says the Greens hold very different values to the Labor Party.
Mr Bradbury says preferences are a matter for the state organisation – but the parties are not the same.
“I didn’t receive any preferences from the Greens at the last election, and I’m certainly not out there canvassing or expecting anything from them in the future,” he said.
“We will stand on Australian Labor Party values. That’s what we’re about and that’s what we’re delivering in Government.”
Keeping “extremism” in check
Mr Dastyari said he could not see how the Greens had “any chance” of keeping the extremist elements within the party in check after Bob Brown’s departure.
“The Greens are to the Left what Pauline Hanson and One Nation are to the Right, and they share ridiculous, albeit different, economic agendas,” the NSW Labor Secretary told The Weekend Australian.
But Senator Milne says Labor are aligning themselves with the real extremists by preferencing the conservative Family First ahead of the Greens.
“That’s where the extremism is in Australian politics and the Greens actually represent mainstream values and mainstream opinion,” she said.
New South Wales Greens MP John Kaye says the party does not rely on Labor preferences.
“Sam Dastyari is clearly looking for some relevance and the standard tactic is to beat up on the Greens,” he said.
“The reality of preferencing the Liberals, Family First, the Christian Democrats is not only unprincipled for a party that claims to be progressive, but it’s also not in their best interests.”
ABC/AAP
Topics:federal-government, elections, alp, greens, australia
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