The Greens have great potential to initiate major reforms.

Even actor John Cleese got into the act of explaining proportional representation in the UK, in 1987.

There are however many other policy and system reforms that could be started now, most of which could improve the national system of governance. It would also demonstrate that the Greens clearly are not just a party for the environment, but that they indeed have a range of other objectives.

Some are highlighted here and others proposed. It would be quite wrong to assess Green policies through the prisms of socialist or capitalist ideologies. The paradigm has changed dramatically. History does not in fact repeat itself. Their motivation goes well beyond the class struggle.

Bob Brown has already called for revisiting the Resources Super Profit Tax of the mining industry that was severely watered down by the Gillard government.

In an excellent research paper Naomi Edwards demonstrates that no less than 83% of the mining industry in Australia is foreign owned. In 2010 the after-tax profit margin was 31% (as compared to 8% of Australian industry). In the next five years foreign owners will earn about $265 billion thus further increasing the percentage of foreign ownership.

Surely, most Australians would find this an intolerable situation, aggravated by the outrageous salary packages and bonuses of their CEOs and other executives.

Have our politicians and economists ever heard of the Norwegian model of economic development and ownership of national resources? The Norwegian model actually has shown the way a nation can maintain and grow economic sovereignty.

The media inquiry recently proposed by the Greens' leader, following the immoral behaviour by executives in the Murdoch Media Empire, is a timely call. While the activities in the UK and the US may not have been copied here, the general standard of reporting by sections of the media in Australia clearly leaves much to be desired.

Some tabloid journalists and several populist shock jocks are continuously spreading misinformation about the Carbon Tax on behalf of their paymasters. The description "scaremongering," regrettably, is apt indeed. It is abuse of freedom of speech.

It is therefore essential and totally justified that the Gillard Government now embarks on a $12 million advertising campaign. The Gillard-Green-Independent partnership has produced an excellent product but, thus far, it has not been marketed well.

The position taken by the Greens on refugee policy is already another major step in the right direction. Senator Hanson-Young is the one who articulates this best. All refugees should be treated fairly under The UN Refugee Convention. Asylum seekers must be received, accommodated and processed on Australian soil. If they are determined as refugees pursuant to Art.1A(2) of the Refugee Convention, then they are allowed to live and integrate into Australian society. Therefore there should be no Pacific solution and no Malaysian solution. Regrettably, the fundamentals of this issue are being avoided by both major parties.

On constitutional change the Greens are pro-Republicans but still seem to maintain a Minimalist position; it doesn't go further than a Republic with an Australian Head of State.