Balances of power are scary, yes. But it's hard to be afraid of the Greens railroading the government to do what they want when their demands to the ALP are full of all these terribly sensible, democratic ideals that put power in the people's hands. Here's the list they got the ALP to agree to.
- A Climate Change Committee
• A full parliamentary debate on Afghanistan
• A commitment to work with the Greens on dental health care investment
• Completion of a $20 million High Speed Rail study by July 2011
• Legislating for truth in political advertising
• A Leaders’ Debate Commission
• Establishing a Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner
• Establishing a Parliamentary Budget Office
• Restrictions on political donations
• A move toward full three year governments
• Specially allocated time for debate and voting on private members bills and a fixed and fair allocation of questions for Independent and minor party members in Question Time
• Referenda for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians and Local Government
• A commitment for reform to provide above the line voting in the Senate
• Better processes for the release of documents in the public interest in both Houses of Parliament
• Access to relevant departments, including Treasury and Finance & Deregulation for Greens election policies.
The problem with this list is that it's mostly pretty wishy-washy stuff. I mean, "a climate change committee"? To do what? And what happens after they've done whatever it is they're supposed to do? That's a huge step down from the climate change policy the Greens went to the election with, and only a minor step up from the ridiculous 'People's Assembly' Gillard pushed.
ReplyDeleteAnd so many of them are vague 'commitments' that the government need only play lip-service to.
I'm disappointed that the Greens didn't push harder for real action here.