Groundhog day as some media indulge in anti-Green spin

So when the Greens announced the Australian Renewable Energy Agency prior to the Carbon Tax announcement, it does not mean the Greens were trying to, in the words of Tony Abbott and several commercial newsreaders, "run the government" or "guzump Julia Gillard."

It means the Greens were being effective negotiators on behalf of the sizable proportion of Australians who voted for them and they were announcing a policy win.

This initiative, delivering billions of dollars for renewable energy projects, on top of the stunning 2010 election result delivering a four per cent swing, indicates that the Greens may enjoy as long a run or longer as that enjoyed by the Australian Democrats for over 25 years.

Compared to the Democrats, the Greens have more union support, better youth appeal, about as many potential prima donnas, less political experience, and a charismatic leader who is highly unlikely to defect to the ALP.

Nevertheless, their media team needs to be more effective at counter-spinning with the Canberra Press Gallery heavyweights, because the anti-minor-party line is prevailing and there is a perception that the Greens are wielding power without a mandate.

The Greens are still 'green' at running national Senate election campaigns and tend to over-focus on pet issues like Coal Seam Gas which, while worthy, do not deliver large amounts of votes. While CSG is an important issue upon which to campaign, at election times progressive minor parties need to focus their campaign efforts in the areas where those progressive votes are to be harvested (the professional, youth and education sectors and the leafy suburbs).

However, if the party continues on current form, the next election is looking good with the Greens on track to win a second senate seat in at least two states to become the most successful minor party in Australian history.

It reflects badly on journalists and commentators who run the Opposition line that minor parties have no legitimate rights to be major players in our parliamentary democracy. It makes those journalists and commentators look like they need to go back to school to study 'Political Institutions 101' so they can get their heads around what most voters already know.

Australia is not, and has not been for decades, a two-party political system and old school members of the media who struggle with that are going to have to come to terms with the political reality.

The evidence suggests that the voters and Julia Gillard already have.