The Greens are just as cynical as the other parties

In other words, Mitsubishi is simply writing a motherhood letter, shutting up the Greens who inundate it with complaints. If I were Ms Putt I would see the letter as a cop-out.

Mitsubishi says it buys "the vast majority" of its woodchips from forests that are not old-growth. So stop picking on us, the company is telling the Greens.

Finally there was Bob Brown's media release on May 17 claiming that Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone's decision to release 77 asylum seekers from the hell-hole of Nauru was a victory for a ship that set sail two days earlier to protest against Australia's Nauru solution.

"Her decision is a first victory for the Australian Flotillas of Hope," according to Brown.

This twisting of the facts drew a stern rebuke from refugee lawyer Marion Le, who e-mailed Senator Brown telling him: "With all due respect, this announcement by Senator Vanstone has nothing to do with the Flotilla of Hope but is the end of interviews conducted on Nauru in February by the Department, UNHCR and myself. I respect your calls to close Nauru - indeed I support them - but I would like you to keep the facts clearly in mind."

As someone who has remained close to the Nauru situation over the past six months, I can back up Ms Le's recounting of the facts.

The Greens are as cynical as the rest of them, despite their idealistic and pious rhetoric. Their efforts in this past week are ample testimony to that fact.