Greens' growth fuels progressive hopes, brings challenges

If a progressive party mistakes real power with its formal trappings, it can end up agreeing to policies that run counter to its platform.

The decision by the Greens in Tasmania to enter a coalition government with a state Labor Party, a party notorious for its links with big business, such as forestry giant Gunns, is a bad mistake.

It would lead the Greens to disaster if this approach to politics were copied federally or in other states - at least a disaster for those who support progressive policies, if not for the Greens' electoral results.

The latest Tasmanian government budget, supported by the Greens in government, is in stark contrast to the Greens anti-neoliberal platform. It involves savage public sector cuts, though the plan to close 20 schools was scrapped under public pressure.

There are examples from Greens parties overseas that show the folly of this approach - such as the case of the Irish Greens.

After the 2007 elections to the Dail (Irish parliament), the Greens formed a coalition with Fianna Fail (one of Ireland's two major parties). The result was the Irish Greens took political responsibility for the decisions of a government that carried anti-environmental policies and harsh anti-worker austerity. In the Dail elections in February, the Greens were wiped out -losing every seat. The "pragmatic road" proved not very pragmatic at all.

The German Greens provide another example. The party, founded on principles of non-violence, found itself in a coalition government actively supporting German involvement in wars on Serbia and Afghanistan.

There are alternatives. In the ACT, for instance, the Greens refused to join a coalition with a minority Labor government in 2008, while still allowing Labor to form government. This allowed the Greens to remain politically independent of a government responsible for many policies the Greens oppose.

A more equal and sustainable society cannot be achieved without confronting corporate power. The Greens have policies that, while often far from radical, would begin to do this. But this is provided the Greens do not allow themselves to get sucked into focusing purely on the parliamentary game.