Australian Greens

The Australian Greens is the national Greens party in Australia. It was formed as a coalition of the various state Greens parties, although the Greens (Western Australia) preserved a separate identity for some time. At the federal level there are four Greens in the Australian Senate (Senators Bob Brown, Kerry Nettle, Christine Milne and Rachel Siewert). There was one MP in the Australian House of Representatives (Michael Organ), who was elected at a by-election in 2002, but he lost his seat at the 2004 elections. The Australian Greens do not have a formal leadership, but Senator Brown of Tasmania is treated in the media as the party's leader.

2004 Election

In the 2004 Federal election the Greens' primary vote rose by around 2%, to an average of around 7%. This won them two additional Senate seats (taking the total to four), but the success of the Howard government in winning a majority in the Senate meant that the Greens' influence on legislation would actually decrease.

Related Topics:
2004 Federal election - Senate - Howard

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Additionally, the 2004 election saw an intense media campaign from the Christianity-oriented conservative Family First Party, including a television advertisement labelling them the "Extreme Greens". The other main left-of-centre parties directed their vote preferences to Family First before the Greens resulting in a loss of the usual flow of votes from the Australian Democrats and the ALP. An example of this is where Victorian Family First candidate Steve Fielding was elected on preferences, despite being outpolled by the Australian Greens' David Risstrom by a ratio of more than four to one first-preference votes. Christine Milne also only narrowly gained her seat before a Family First candidate, even though she received 14,897 primary votes, compared to Family First's Jacquie Petrusma's 1,514.

Related Topics:
Family First Party - Victorian - Steve Fielding - David Risstrom - Christine Milne - Jacquie Petrusma

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