Peter

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The Greens are like that dorky cousin you had when you were a kid, kind of goofy, a bit nerdy, but still OK.

They may well have come from a similar background, and had many similar principles, but they were a bit embarrassing at times, however you knew at the end of the day you could probably count on them.

Those watching the Labor Party yell and scream about the impact the Greens are having on our primary vote and wondering where it all went sour, need to realise, this has been coming for a while now. Frankly, it had to.

Although we may seek many of the same or similar outcomes, the fact is there are many areas we will never agree on.  And although the same can be said for the Liberal and National Party’s, you don’t see that National Party tail telling people it is wagging the Liberal Party dog.

The truly sad thing is both the Labor Party and the Greens need each other, it is unfortunate but true. We need all the help we can to fight the Coalition, even the English and French managed to work together, somewhat, to beat the Nazi’s, not that I’m making the same comparison…

There are 3 problems we seem to face however. Ego, Arrogance and childish carry-on, and not just on one side either.

The ALP has had members that have made some statements that I’m sure they regretted later, things tend to spew out in the heat of the moment. Some of these things said have no doubt made Labor look bad. However we need to view this as not just anger, but passion coming out.

Victorian ALP Leader Daniel Andrew’s, was trying to distance himself from comments made at the NSW ALP Conference in Sydney, during the Melbourne bi-election. I don’t blame him. Maybe his way of calmly debating with the Greens works in Victoria, or maybe the massive amount of media coverage of the NSW Conference received Australia wide also had an influence. Who really knows?

Sam Dastyari at the NSW Labor Conference

All I will say is, I don’t really care why, it was great to see Labor claim victory in a seat that the Greens only conceded they lost yesterday, long after the horse had bolted. This futile act of not conceding for days by the Greens seems just a wee tad sooky-la-la to me, and must disappoint those Greens voters who assumed they were voting for an adult.

Adam Bandt, who earlier in the weekend dedicated the loss to Bob Brown, oops, I mean dedicated the campaign to Bob… Had a bit to say on preferences.

After the victory Champagne, streamers, and victory cake were placed out of media sight, or maybe tossed in a skip bin out back, Adam fronted the camera’s looking glum. Adam told us all that it was disgusting that they lost on preferences, and the system needs to be changed.

What really needs to change Mr Bandt, is your attitude. We have had this system of government for a while now, and it appears to work fine. Just because you look like a dick for claiming victory in a bi-election before anybody has voted, don’t try preaching to us about preferences. Put these words together in a sentence if you can Mr Bandt.

Spilt, Milk, Crying, Baby, Adam, Fucking, Bandt. Harden up a bit.

I seem to remember a certain candidate singing the praises of preferences not so long ago in a certain federal seat… your seat Mr Bandt, won on the back of preferences from the Liberal Party. That’s right, Tony Fucking Abbott put you in the big house buddy, I suggest you sit there and shut up, opening your mouth seems to make you look and sound stupid of late.

Adam Bandt,  judging from the posters, campaigning somewhere other than Qld

Many wonder what brought all this on with Labor and The Greens, here’s is my $23.78 worth.

In the last state election in NSW, the Greens refused to preference Labor in many seats, including several where we were not fighting each other. This cost us seats, there is absolutely no doubt of that, you will note I said seats, not seat, I do mean it in the plural.

In NSW the Shooters & Fishers Party hold the balance of power, by 1 seat.

One, Numero Uno, a solitary seat, more than 0 but less than 2….

If The Greens had put their preferences our way NSW would be looking a lot different. We would not be selling most of the states assets, we would not be capping public sector wages, we would not be crucifying the superannuation schemes of the states citizens screwing over firemen, ambo’s, and nurses. Another thing, we sure as shit would not have amateurs shooting up our National Parks.

So here in NSW we have a lot to thank the Greens for…at least the Coalition and gun nuts do.

The people who voted Green in the Queensland state election must be shaking their heads, both of them in fact were seen doing just that. Aww, that was silly I know, but it does show us just how credible the “Green vote is a wasted vote” way of thinking is.

Many of you would have seen on the news Sarah Hanson Young, and Lee Rhianon at some Greens rally for Julian Assange.

I will leave aside the irony of the Greens rallying for a man who is all about transparency, and uncovering that which is hidden, when in fact they are the only political party that does not allow camera’s or press inside their national conference.

Wise words anywhere but a Greens Conference

What many may find interesting is this…

This rally was held outside Sydney’s Town Hall, and was designed to recruit members and get some media attention. What many didn’t realise is what was going on inside the Town hall at the time. Inside the NSW State Labor Conference was going on.

For Sarah Hanson Young to go on TV and have a sook, and complain she can’t understand why the Labor Party would take issue with the Greens is ridiculous. Is she stupid, ignorant, arrogant, or all of the above.

Every time I hear the Greens use the words “progressive” I want to puke. A “progressive party”, my ass. Figure out how to pay for your pipe dreams and we may have a start.

“Progressive” after all, is just another way of saying “Moving Forward”, where have I heard that before??? Hmm

Maybe I should do what they do, start my own party, I could call it the “Do All Party”.

Policies like no more pollution, ever, world peace, no taxes, free love and mung beans for all… but safe in the knowledge that I will never be held to account, because I will never have a majority.

If there is one thing that the Asylum Seeker drama’s show us about The Greens, it is that the platform is worth more than the policy. Why would they take the low road, and negotiate on a policy, with either side, that may save lives? Not when they can take the high road, block everything, and then take on the Jesus Christ Pose while men, women, and children drown at sea.

I’m starting to form the distinct impression that if the Asylum Seekers were all looked after, and if same-sex couples were getting married all over the country, nobody would be more upset than The Greens. That would be the end for them, no more political platform. No more record political donations from Wotif…

It is about time the Greens looked in the mirror, hard, and decided if they are going to try and join Labor in the fight to keep Tony Abbott out of The Lodge, and put him in the outhouse where he belongs.

The Greens have some fantastic members, and passionate supporters, most of whom seem to want what is best for the country.

The Greens remind me more than a little of Hillsong. They have fanatical, trusting, and dedicated followers, all of whom assume their actions are all pure, and for the best of reasons. However they are blind to the goings on behind the scenes, the power, the ego’s and the cash. Not to mention the often pretend ideals.

The ALP is not perfect, far from it, we have issues with factions just like any party. We have trouble selling our story of late, and that is not the fault of The Greens, it is us, like it or not. We certainly need a can of “Toughen Up” as a party, maybe even a keg.

However, Labor are putting in place policies that are having a positive impact on our environment, and are also making a difference in the lives of many Australians. That is our point of difference, we are currently crap with our words, but strong on our actions. But at least we are acting.

Some say we should do what we did as kids, when we acted out of instict, and push the greens to the side of the dinner plate to avoid. I don’t think that is the answer.

We should both be acting together on one goal, keeping the Coalition on the opposition bench. After all, that is the biggest threat to this nation of ours.

Now we have had the necessary public row, can we get back to the job at hand?

The ones benefitting most from our battle, are the ones we should be fighting.

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68 thoughts on “Jesus Christ Pose”

  1. Thanks Doug 🙂
    Our parties are friends who are having a spat over dinner.
    Bring it on and get it out of the way I reckon, then we can join together and belt Abbott next election.
    More HSU coming really soon…

  2. We rely on the HSU stuff and the work is amazing, but do not comment on compromising away human rights ever again, that is a very slippery slope indeed.

    Remember the little poem of Pastor Neimoller because as a very loud and bossy advocate for human rights it is my fear that one day they will come for me.

  3. So are you going to withdraw your absurd claim that teh Greens cost you seats at the last state election?

    Or are you happy to catch the delusional bus with Kath Jackson?

    Are you so deluded that you think Ian ‘love you long time’ Macdonald didn’t offer teh Shooters free range in National Parks in an effort to get Costa’s power privatisation bill through? Ask Mrs Albanese, Carmel Tebutt, if you think that’s bullshit. If you don’t trust her try that other paragon of the working class, Verity Firth.

    The difference between the O’Farrell government and the Carr/Iemma/Rees/Kardashian governments is the letterhead, Ask the Firies who were given a 2.5% ultimatum by Roozendaal when he was Treasurer. Same shit, different shovel.

    Mate, in this shit you are so wrong you could go for gold at the Wrong Olympics. Hopefully you’ll man up, put your hand up and admit it.

  4. Wixxy, I’ve voted for both parties but could never be a member of Labor as it currently is run and am dubious about becoming a member of the Greens as they are currently run. So I guess I’m exactly the type of voter most of the Labor faction heads are upset about.

    I appreciate you want to change the Labor party from within, the only problem is even if you become a delegate you have no way to do this.

    A quick look at the HSU’s delegates will show you why. 600 delegates from a membership that is predominantly left oriented. The unions executive are all right-oriented (probably on account of wanting to keep all the money they have looted) so nearly all of the delegates chosen support the right faction of Labor.

    How is that representative of their membership? Quite frankly it’s not. There is no real democratic principles in play in how the Caucus is run so there is no real democratic representation of Labors members in how their policies are chosen.

    Instead it’s the faction heads who have to want to change Labor if it’s ever going to change. This is because the union heads are the ones responsible for determining who gets to be delegates for their union. This directly affects who gets chosen as candidates for Labor and anyone who makes it into Federal Labor is considered by the union that got them their to always work to represent that union.

    So essentially the only way you could possibly change Labor from within would be for you and a bunch of mates to enter a bunch of different unions, work for years on end to make it into leadership positions in those unions then suddenly work together to dissolve the power base you have managed to accumulate. Good luck with that.

    So has any faction head ever even looked like dissolving their powerbase to give more power to members? Of course not. By the time anyone becomes a faction head, they are usually incredibly pragmatic (idealists need not apply) and understand the concept of quid pro quo.

    Unless a bunch of faction heads suddenly grow a conscience overnight the only way we are going to get a reformed party of the Left is to make a new one.

  5. Why would I withdraw a fact? There was one Blue Mountains seat whose name eludes me that the Libs won narrowly, but with a low primary vote. Alas The Greens did no preference Labor, or the outcome would have been different.
    Ametuer shooting in National parks came in under O’Farrell, like it or not, that is how it is.

    You might thinking that a sexist remark about the states first Premier is OK, I don’t.

    You seem to be buying any shit that you are shovelled. I suggest you look past the buzz words like “progressive” and look at who sided with the Christian Democrat “Gay haters” to stop the unions from funding campaigns for the workers.

    Only big corpoarte donations are allowed if they go to the Greens, in a fine display of selling out their own ideals for a fast buck. Don’t feed me that crap about ot was a personal donation, not WOTIF either, Rupert Murdoch, Gina Rinehart, Clive Palmer…. they are all capable of personal dontaions too…

  6. Rubbish Wixxy. There is only one Blue Mountains seat, and Trish Doyle did a bloody good job for the ALP but Rosa Sage was always going to win. Here’s the first preference votes:

    Roza Sage LIB 17,681 (39.1 %)
    Kerrin O’Grady GRN 7,647 (16.9 %)
    Merv Cox CDP 1,841 (4.1 %)
    Trish Doyle ALP 10,253 (22.7 %)
    Janet Mays IND 7,804 (17.3%)

    Mays was a councillor and pro-business independent. Her preferences elected Sage, by the time O’Grady went out of the count the bible bashing Sage was already elected, mainly from the big booths around Springwood. You will also note that Trish Doyle’s 22.7 percent plus O’Grady’s 16.9 percent equals 39.6. So even if every Green vote had gone across to Trish she would still be over ten percent short of a majority.

    It was widely expected before the count that Trish would come third, or even fourth. If you doubt me ask my old mate Katoomba ALP Branch President Don Macgregor before you make an even bigger fool of yourself than you already are by backing in parasites like Keneally; the person who claimed at the special ALP conference in May 2008 that if the party didn’t privatise electricity then crippled kiddies would be thrown out of hospitals. Pathetic.

    So far you’ve come up with one seat, and that turned out to be bullshit. What else have you got?
    I know what I’m fucking talking about here sunshine, so don’t peddle your bullshit with me.

    And nothing backing your ridiculous claim about the shooters party because, if you read the post above old son, you will learn something about the Legislative Council vote, and that is that The Shooters didn’t get their seat off the back of Green preferences.

    I worked on the Your Rights At Work campaign matey, so don’t give me a strawman lecture from someone from the party of Ian ‘love you long time’ Macdonald about political donations. Your mob kept building workers as second class citizens courtesy of the Australian Building and Construction Commission despite the union movement giving you government in 2007. That, and Gillard rebranding WorkChoices as the Fair Work act makes any donation from a union to the ALP as an act of culpability that is on par with anything Jackson and Williamson have done.

    So save your crocodile tears for working stiffs mate, we know that the difference between the ALP and the Liberals is the brand of lubricant they use when they shaft us.

    If you want to spout bullshit old mate, go right ahead, but don’t piss in the pocket of someone who was in the ALP before you were born and tell them it’s raining. If I didn’t live so far away these days I’d suggest we go down to the Royal and have a few schooners while I filled you in on a bit of history. As it is I might make the trip anyway if you’re up for it?

  7. Always happy for a schooner.

    There are other seats, I’m just not sure what they are, however there is more than 1 seat in the Blue Mountains, even my seat covered parts of the mountains…

    I will get back to you, as I haven’t got time to look them up today, but you seem to be right on that seat you mention. But I will check out the others.

    Email me if you want that beer

  10. Hang on, though, sending preferences in lower house seats may have changed the house composition very slightly, but it had no effect on the Legislative Council, where the Shooters hold seats, and where the Greens did preference ALP statewide. Can you clear this up for me?

  11. chromefist, there is not one lower house seat that Wixxy can point to where a lack of Greens preferences changed the result, and as you point out there was no impact on the Legislative Council result from Greens Preferences. The Green, Jeremy Buckingham, was the last MLC elected, so Greens preferences weren’t even notionally distributed!

    On this issue Wixxy is talking through his arse and repeating a myth that elements within the ALP have been building up for the last eighteen months or so to suit their own agendas: That of the Greens being some kind of thief of the entitlement the ALP has to progressive voters, rather than the bunch of hopelessly out of their depth schmucks that most ALP MPs in reality are.

    …and he aught to apologise for the bald face stinking lie that he has slandered The Greens with. I am sure not wanting to be as delusional and factually unreliable as Kathy Jackson he will man up and admit his bullshitting, and we can move on.

  12. The polls show that of the 10% or so that has come off Labor’s primary vote since last election 5% have gone to the coalition and 5% to independents while the Greens vote has remained stable. The ‘Greens as vote thieves’ line is bullshit. The Labor meat heads know that they have to claw votes back from the coalition and independents and that they can only do this by differentiating themselves from the Greens. Their deep confusion over policy direction leaves them unable to articulate sensible policy differences so they are reduced to slogans, invective and insults.

  14. I’ll leave the baseless insults to you Pete, you’re the expert.

    Monaro is a seat I know a fair bit about, I drive 170Km across it each day on my way to night shift. Whan’s vote actually held up in Cooma, which was a shock to everyone, including little Stevie, but he got smashed in the big Jerrabomberra booth which, if you know Struggletown, is hardly a green stronghold! 3,000 behind on first preferences, Whan was never going to get up, but it took him until Tuesday afternoon before he conceded. What was that you were banging on about the other day about teh Greens in Melbourne not conceding? They must have learnt their trade from Whan the lesser.

    But fear not, being the son of entitlement, little Stevie has been bumped into the Upper House where his presence has set policy makers minds atingle. Or not.

    Either way, being the son of a pollie Steve has been saved from the ignominy of having to look for a real job like the people he purportedly represents.

    And you’re going to tell me that the loss of Alan Ashton to public life is a blow to working people? Give it up Pete, you’ve missed the bus on this one old mate. If you need preferences to hold onto East Hills you’re so far up shit creek you may as well throw the paddle away.

    But let’s look at how the Greens preferences broke in East Hills in 2007, the election before. Of the 2.721 votes cast for the Greens in that election 779 went across to Ashton. Of the 2,437 votes they had in 2011 (note the drop in votes) 734 went across to Ashton. Pretty much same-same, regardless of the how to vote card. Probably because East Hills is hardly a bubbling cauldron of Green activity which would be reflected in their ability to staff booths. But significantly only 382 Greens preferences went across to the Lib in 2011 compared to 462 in 2007, so you were actually better off in 2011, and you’re still having a sook!

    Mind you, I didn’t see the media release from Alan Ashton thanking the Greens for their crucial role in him securing the seat in 2007, probably because it didn’t happen. But somehow they were crucial to him losing it in 2011, despite their vote and preferences flatlining.

    So I don’t buy the Green preferences changing the result in either Monaro or East Hills.

    So suck it up and make with the apology sunshine because you still haven’t come up with one seat yet (you know, less than two, but more than zero).

  15. You can talk about 2007 all you like, and I don’t care if your middle name is Monaro and you were born in East Hills, the facts don’t change based on your opinion.

    You said I wouldn’t find a seat, well there is 2 I have pointed out and given the evidence to prove it

    You are helping me prove my point, the Electoral Commission isn’t biased, the laws on mathematics haven’t changed nor are they biased, it is you that is biased. Just like the Hillsong crowd you will not let the facts get in the way of your rhetoric, because you are the pure one, demanding everybody else apologise for your mistakes.

    Not me champ, you asked me to find 1 seat that had gone to the Coalition in the last NSW state election due to Green preferences not going Labors way.

    I found you 2, and I note that a substantial nimber of the Green preferences went to the Coalition in those seats also…

    I will consider this matter closed now as I have done as you have requested, and more, and I will no longer waste my time debating with someone who dismisses facts just because they don’t suit

  16. You hab=]ven’t produced facts at all! You’ve produced a blinded opinion and demonstrated your ignorance of how preferences work in the real world and then run naway when the argument got tough. Yoiuyr argument isnb’t based on mathematics, it’s based on wishful thinking!

    Typical gutless ALP hack.

    No wonder you got smashed in 2011, you deserve more of the same in the future.

  17. Here are the links to blinded opinion again, fyi

    Fact one
    http://www.pastvtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/SGE2011/laPDF/East_Hills.pdf

    Fact two
    http://www.pastvtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/SGE2011/laPDF/East_Hills.pdf

    Nothing gutless about knowing basic math and acknowledging facts

    Maybe you should try it
    I got smashed as you put it running in a seat I knew I couldn’t win, because I was asked to, I see no shame in representing Labor voters in my area who would have otherwise had no voice.
    Some do things for the good of others, some only self serve… I stuck my neck out for those who asked, and needed me to. Not so others who have never had the guts to do the same can have a shot…

  18. Wixxy, while I do not know whether green preferences have affected any outcome in any seat, I do remember Stephen Field, put intp the senate by Labour preferences ( and those of every other big party) in a ‘bash the greens’ deal. If the greens had won that senate seat……

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