The end of the Greens?

In terms of trade and investment, the Greens have already played a role at a time of growing concern about foreign ownership given that the Australia’s agricultural sector is being increasingly challenged by imports as Australia’s agricultural export to import ratio declined from 390 to 250 per cent between 2000 and 2008. The Greens plan for the registration of all foreign purchases of land and water supplies received support from the Nationals MP John Cobb and independent senator Nick Xenophon.

And the Greens have hardly been out of touch with concern about bank interest rates rising beyond the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate, despite an accusation that the Greens are primarily interested in reducing the flow of credit in line with their desire to reduce the consumption of goods. Others note that the cost of borrowing for small and medium businesses has increased when compared with residential property since the GFC, thus impacting on the “viability, growth prospects and employment generation capacity of those businesses”.

To conclude, the Greens can make appeal on issues beyond its traditional environmental concerns, and support for refugees and gay marriage.
 
The current context may suit the Greens for some time yet, and provide an ongoing wake up call for the major parties to make even greater effort to balance a number of policy considerations.

Sure the Greens are light years away from being a major political force capable of winning government, but journalists should give greater attention to the reasons why more Australians may consider voting for the Greens rather than merely bagging them as a party of the extreme.