With the Greens seizing control of the Senate from today, Leader of The Nationals Warren Truss warns that Julia Gillard and Bob Brown make for an extreme and dangerous liaison…
Dear Friends,
Julia Gillard is in bed with the Greens and they are poised to make their move.
By virtue of the new Senate and the minority government Labor has formed in the House of Representatives, the Greens will no longer merely extol kooky, narrow and unaccountable policies, but begin to truly dictate terms.
Labor is reaping what it has sown. Its refusal to take on the fringe environmental gaggle now sees the Gillard Government reliant on Greens votes in parliament and preference deals for its seats.
Of Labor’s 72 federal seats, 44 (or 61%) come courtesy of Greens’ preferences. That includes eight Labor MPs who finished second on primary vote and fell over the line after big boosts from the Greens.
A case in point saw Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan in his seat of Lilley get up after a primary vote of just 41% thanks to the Greens’ 12.17%.
The Treasurer is deeply indebted to the Greens.
The Greens have already taken advantage of their position. Take the Prime Minister’s barefaced ‘no carbon tax’ lie.
Despite her repeated and emphatic declarations that she would not lead a government that pursued a carbon tax, the instant the Greens obtained the balance of power she rolled over and now vehemently promotes their preferred route.
This was just an early, though telling, example of the sorts of concessions the Prime Minister is prepared to make to appease the Greens in order to remain in The Lodge – and it appears she will compromise every time, even if it means abandoning more positions she took to the people last August.
That’s also why any commitment to compensation after a carbon tax kicks in is dubious. The Greens back Professor Ross Garnaut’s so-called ‘principled approach’, meaning everyone must be hit and no-one should get compo.
Without real financial pain for consumers there will be no behavioural change. The Greens’ will relentlessly press that point. The Prime Minister will have to make concession after concession after concession.
Greens’ policies are, therefore, hugely important to how Australia will be governed for the next two years, assuming the duct-tape Labor-Greens-Independents alliance holds together.
To date there has been scant scrutiny of those policies or the dogmatic ideologues that espouse them. What the Greens stand for makes the socialist left of the Labor Party look mainstream.
The Greens’ website denotes a ‘minimum’ carbon reduction target of 40% by 2020, and zero emissions by 2050. Even with a 25% reduction, which the Greens insisted on during the Rudd era’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Australia would descend into an economic tail-spin.
The cost of living would skyrocket. Entire industries would be driven to the wall or move offshore. Job losses would be massive.
They also want 30% of energy to come from renewables by 2020, and 100% by 2050 – despite growing recognition that the government’s current renewable settings are too costly, unrealistically optimistic and, in any event, will deliver only a minute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Greens want a ban on new coal mines and new coal-fired power stations. They would ban the expansion of existing coal mines, and the refurbishment of existing coal-fired generating plants.
Just this week, Bob Brown said the Australian coal industry should be shutdown. Coal is Australia’s number one export commodity, worth $50 billion-a-year and employing 100,000 Australians.
All this despite affordable base-load energy from renewables being unrealistic any time soon… if ever.
Bob Brown’s stated personal view is that the mining tax should be 50%. The Greens’ official line is 40% – that’s the same level howled down by the community last year because it would destroy our national wealth.
The Greens industrial relations policy, proffering the wholesale return to union dominated workplaces, could have been written by the extreme left wing unionists that openly flirt with the party.
They want a minimum five weeks annual leave for all employees – a move that would add to the woes of small business and see unemployment soar.
The Greens want to end the ANZUS treaty and close all foreign bases. Meanwhile, debate currently rages within the Greens as some want Australia to sever all ties and all contact with Israel.
In their March 2010 Economics Policy, the Greens advocated a new 50% personal tax rate for high incomes, a much higher Capital Gains Tax, the abolition of the 30% Private Health Insurance Rebate, new minimum tax laws, and an increased Company Tax rate of 33%. They also support death taxes and more government ownership of business and assets.
They would reduce the voting age to 16.
They want a uniform age of consent, but don’t dare put a number to it.
They would dramatically constrain funding support for non-government schools, capping it at 2003-04 levels.
They want 30% of all Australian territorial waters locked up in fishing ‘no-take’ zones.
They want an immediate, permanent end to all live exports.
If there was more scrutiny of the Greens, their small vote – and ridiculously disproportionate influence – would crumble.
Around 86% of voters rejected the Greens, yet they claim some bizarre mandate, which is only legitimised by Labor’s lust for power at any cost.
From today, Labor will be squeezed by the Greens in the upper and lower houses of federal parliament and we will hear a lot more about the Greens’ and their extreme edicts.
Given Labor has never had the stomach to seriously take them on, the Greens will be calling the shots.
Kind regards,
Warren Truss MP
Leader of The Nationals
“Around 86% of voters rejected the Greens.” -[Citation needed] If you cite the election result well more than 57% of Australians rejected the Coalition last election.