Anyway, good stuff. If the Greens can climb their way up to having serious political influence, then maybe Australia won't turn into the redneck state of South-East Asia.
(One of the Greens' policies is hardline opposition to invading Iraq, and an almost seditious disdain for Australia's current "I'm-with-Stupid" foreign policy. Maybe Graham was right and the Australian public is too smart to fall for the "Bali was bombed, therefore we must invade Iraq" bait-and-switch. Which would suggest that Australians are less gullible than the Poms. Discuss.)
I hope this is a wake-up call to the ALP. You can't out-redneck a redneck, so why try?
http://www.the-fix.org/ has a pretty accurate analysis. The ALP used to be a workers'/socialist party, though that's in decline with the decline of traditionally unionised industries. Now it has a choice between being a centrist economic-rationalist party and an inner-city progressive party. At the latter, the Greens are going to beat it anytime, though at the former it has more credibility because of its size and stability.
I think the ALP's future is to become much like the Democratic Party in the US. A huge, nominally left-wing though effectively centrist, corporate-controlled party. ("Vote ALP: for the lesser of two evils") Though thankfully we have preferential voting and a proportional senate
"Why Settle For The Lesser Of Two Evils?"
VOTE GREEN ... DEEP, DARK GREEN.
The stars are almost right....
Iai Cthulhu Fthangh!
Well, yeah, and that ALP had an out-of-town candidate, which is suicide on a personality based (as opposed to party) campaign. The Libs didn't run one since it was in a ALP heartland. So to speak.
I do think that some of the Greens' policies are a bit weird, but with the demise of the Dems, they're the only game in town as far as this little Progressive duck goes, until I can see concrete evidence of Labor showing some conviction. I'm not sure how many more kicks in the arse the ALP needs to prompt it to get its act together, though it's working on it, with some resistance, I suppose.