sign in sign up
<<
Home , Andrew Bartlett, Australian Greens, Bob Brown, Christine Milne, Gerry Bates, Jack Mundey

THE FAR-LEFT HISTORY OF ’ past shows they are a party of the radical left, not the environment, argues Christian Kerr. THE FAR-LEFT HISTORY OF THE R

Brown was a prominent figure in were joined by three other members— the Wilderness Society from its earliest , Lance Armstrong CHRISTIAN KERR Journalist with The Australian days. He wrote about rafting the and Di Hollister—largely elected in in the very first issue protest against a proposed paper pulp of its journal and became the society’s mill at Wesley Vale, outside the north- paradox lies at the very director in 1978, putting him at the eastern centre of Devonport. heart of the Greens. ‘The very forefront of the dam debate. It was during this term of first Party anywhere It was an Australian Democrat, parliament that the movement got in the world began in , who was first elected a name. The Tasmanian Wilderness AAustralia in 1972, the United to the state parliament off the back Society had already spread to the Group, which grew out of of the controversy. He became a mainland, dropping the specific state pioneering Australian environmental member for Denison in a by-election reference as its work broadened. campaigns,’ the official creation story early in 1980, the first Australian The growing political organisation on their website reads. ‘Early elections political candidate elected on an found a title too. saw Greens representatives hold the environmental platform. But Brown The title came from the Green balance of power at the state level, very much became the face of the ‘No Ban campaigns in of the including and Christine Dams’ campaign as it spread beyond early 1970s which had begun after Milne in Tasmania. In 1992, the Tasmania and mounted as a federal women from the well-heeled suburb Greens formed a national party.’ issue as the 1983 election loomed. of Hunters Hill, rebuffed by the local Not only is this strangely Sanders resigned from the council and Liberal state government, condensed. It omits what appealed to the hard- one would think are details THE GREAT PARADOX OF THE GREENS IS THAT left absolutely crucial to the THEIR ORIGINS LIE IN A CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT THE branch of the militant story of the Greens. >DEVELOPMENT OF A SOURCE OF RENEWABLE Builders Labourers Yes, the Greens were ENERGY Federation to stop born from the United local development. Tasmania Group. It itself , sprang from the Action parliament at the end of 1982 in the BLF leader, coined the term at group, the body formed to try to protest at what he described as the start of 1973 to differentiate its revoke the removal of national park the ‘totalitarian’ treatment of dam environmentally-focussed actions status and flooding and enlargement protesters by the state government. from the traditional union ‘black bans’. of the south-west Tasmanian lake as More than 1500 had been arrested, The actions spread in 1973 and part of a hydro-electric project in the including Brown. 1974 across different parts of Sydney. late sixties and early seventies. Under Tasmania’s electoral system, The union and activists joined forces The group was created to contest a count back was held to determine to block developments in Potts Point seats at the 1972 Tasmanian election, who would succeed Sanders in and the Rocks, in the Anglican-church as flooding was set to get underway. Denison. The successful candidate owned areas of Glebe, and against It came within a few hundred votes was announced on January 4 1983. a freeway development that would of winning a seat, but its vote declined It was Brown, who the same day had have cut through the inner-western at the next election. Many of its emerged from 19 days in ’s suburbs of Ultimo, Annandale, Rozelle members and other Lake Pedder Risdon Prison for obstructing workers and Leichhardt. activists drifted into the Tasmanian at the Franklin Dam site. The movement impressed a young Wilderness Society in 1976, including Brown had contested Denison visiting German bureaucrat from the the Launceston general practitioner at the 1982 poll as an independent. He European Commission and left-wing Bob Brown. was returned in the 1986 Tasmanian activist, Petra Kelly. She was fascinated The Wilderness Society was election, along with a second by the collaboration between the formed to continue and expand the environmental campaigner from workers of the BLF and the residents work of the Lake Pedder campaign— the neighbouring seat of Franklin, of the bohemian or rapidly gentrifying and harness its energy to stop the . areas where the actions Hydro-Electric Commission’s planned The movement continued to grow occurred. Franklin Dam on the in in strength. Both Brown and Bates The name stuck with her and when the state’s rugged south-west. were returned at the 1989 election, and at the start of 1980 she became a key

AUGUST 2013 | IPA Review 17 R THE FAR-LEFT HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN GREENS Volume 65 I 2

The Greens woodchip protest

AT THE VERY CORE OF THE GREENS’ PHILOSOPHY TODAY IS THAT THE PLANET ITSELF IS FACED BY AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS THAT CAN ONLY BE RESOLVED BY RADICALLY >REMODELLING NOT JUST THE ECONOMY, BUT SOCIETY ITSELF

CONTINUED their symbol while at the same time treaty, they were constitutionally valid driver in an effort to unite groups of adopting a name that attempted to under the Commonwealth’s external environmentalists, activists, hide the fact that it actually was a affairs powers. anti-NATO, anti-nuclear and anti- party. Even now the media simply The environmental issues of 2013, industrialisation protesters into a refers to them as the Greens. It however, are very different to those of single movement in a drive for real was telling that the day after Milne 1983. True, some are still fought on a political power and parliamentary discarded her agreement with the case by case, location by location basis. representation in her homeland she government that , for the But at the very core of the Greens’ bestowed it on the new body. They very first time, referred to them as ‘the philosophy today is that the planet became Die Grünen, the Greens. Greens party’. itself is faced by an existential crisis The emerging political force There was a lack of honesty in its that can only be resolved by radically in Tasmania borrowed back the actions, an ambiguity—an ambiguity remodelling not just the economy, but name. They had originally been ‘the that continues to match the paradox of society itself—and the relationship of Independents’. At the end of 1991 they the party that is so obvious today. both with the ecology. became ‘the Green Independents’. By The 30th anniversary of the election At the heart of that existential August of 1992 they had become ‘the of the Hawke government on March crisis—or at least one of its most Greens’. 5 this year was also heralded by the crucial elements—is the supposed At the same time, the movement Greens as the 30th anniversary of threat of , of global took the green triangular logo that the saving of the Franklin. Hawke warming caused largely by the had been the symbol of the Franklin had promised to block the proposal. production and use of coal to generate protestors, removed the words UNESCO had awarded world the electricity that not only powers ‘No Dams’, and replaced them with the heritage listing status to the wild our industries, but powers—and party name. rivers of Tasmania in December 1982. empowers—our society. It was an act rich in symbolism— The incoming Hawke government The great paradox of the Greens and hypocrisy. The anti-Franklin went on to introduce legislation is that their origins lie in a campaign protests, like the protests against to stop work on the Franklin Dam to fight the development of a source the flooding of Lake Pedder before and successfully defending its acts of , hydro-electrical them, had been community-based against a High Court challenge by power, that their great day of social movements. Tasmania, saying that as they dealt celebration marked the effective end A political party had appropriated with a listing under an international of the push to develop this cheap and

18 IPA Review | ipa.org.au THE FAR-LEFT HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN GREENS R

carbon-neutral means of powering the movement, opponents of the two Gulf from 1990. Tasmanian economy. Wars and involvement in Afghanistan, Valentine cited the Quakers and Nothing was said about this on anti-urban development activists, the the Vietnam Moratorium movement March 5 by this supposed party of the women’s and gay rights movements, as keys to her activism. While a environment. It is a fact that simply animal activists, the community legal parliamentarian, she was arrested cannot be acknowledged by any centres movement, opponents of coal protesting outside the Australian/ member. This dark, guilty secret, the seam gas, opponents of genetically US joint facility at Pine Gap. She also party’s very own original sin, is kept modified organisms… the list goes on. marched against the American Clark absolutely hidden. Which begs the Their former national convenor, Air Base in the Philippines. question: what else do the Greens have Stewart Jackson, said in his doctoral She resigned citing ill health in to hide? thesis ‘the Australian Greens has a March 1992 (while continuing active The Lake Pedder and Franklin complex history, bringing together a involvement in various anti-American, Dam struggles are central to the number of different strands of social anti-uranium, anti-nuclear and Greens mythos. So, indeed, are their and political thinking.’ anti-urban development campaigns) Tasmanian roots. This, of course, has assisted the and was replaced by Christabel It can be seen in their choice of Greens with their rise to the current Chamarette, a psychologist and parliamentary leaders; Bob Brown, position they enjoy as the balance of Christian anti-war activist who served the friendly family doctor politicalised power party in the federal parliament. until she was defeated at the 1996 poll. by the Pedder debate who goes on But it has also created tension in the Another Greens WA Senator, Dee to lead the fight for the Franklin. His parliamentary party and the party Margetts, a former high school teacher replacement Christine Milne, the organisation with the promise of more and librarian until 1988, when she country school teacher and farmer’s to come, tension that with Brown now took the role of coordinator for People daughter who becomes a force in the gone as leader and the more abrasive for Nuclear Disarmament, was elected campaign against the Wesley Vale Milne in charge could become at the 1993 election and served one pulp mill because of what it will mean unmanageable, particularly if—as the term. for the local environment. And the polls suggest—their parliamentary As well as the disarmament heir apparent, Peter Whish-Wilson, representation in Canberra is set to movement, other disparate factions the Wall Street master of the universe fall. from the Left founded the WA Greens who is humanised by the events of A look at the history of the Greens’ in 1990. Key amongst these was the September 11 terrorist attacks representation in the Commonwealth the Alternative ; a largely- and retreats to his own little part of Parliament shows the very different Fremantle based group of members Tasmania where he becomes a simple backgrounds of members of the party and former members of various vigneron and raises a family, only to the Tasmanian branch. Brown communist parties left politically to find his solace disturbed by yet might have been the first member of homeless by the collapse of the Berlin another milling project which drives the Australian Greens to sit on the red Wall. him into activism. leather benches of the Senate. But he The experience of the WA The present was not the first Green. That honour Greens does not only demonstrate their story as a tale of ordinary folk went to West Australian peace and the diverse interests of the party. driven into politics by threats to the anti-nuclear activist Jo Valentine. It is the best example of how Green environment that also threaten their Valentine entered the Senate on 1 parties developed autonomously community. If we look at the entity July 1985 after election as a member of and independently across . known as the Australian Greens—and the Nuclear Disarmament Party at the It applies equally to the growth of how it came about, we find a very 1984 poll. She took her seat, however, the party in others states. different story. as an independent, having left the As in Tasmania and Western True, the story of the Australian party along with its figurehead Peter Australia, the NSW Greens Greens is the story of social Garret in April 1985, saying it had developed organically. Its genesis movements, but these represent been infiltrated and captured by the however lay in yet another very far more than local environmental Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party. different group, members of the mobilisations. They have drawn Valentine was re-elected at the Labor left from Sydney’s inner their support and platform from head of her own ‘Peace Group’ ticket west expelled for backing far left organisations that involve trade in the 1987 , but sat ‘independent’ candidates in the unions, the peace and disarmament as the representative of the Greens WA 1984 local government elections

AUGUST 2013 | IPA Review 19 R THE FAR-LEFT HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN GREENS Volume 65 I 2

CONTINUED founding of a new political party and itself the Greens. in the Leichardt municipality— the collapse of the Soviet occupation The DSP also caused trouble Rats in the Ranks territory. of Eastern Europe lead to the for the development of the Greens Many of these were involved in formation of the Party. Its in . Their initial a broader Labor Party reading group, manifesto called for ‘social justice, the manifestation, the Green Electoral set up in part as a response to what expansion of democracy, a diverse Movement, was a DSP front. DSP the participants saw as the regrettable multicultural Australia, an ecologically influence also ran strong in its dilution of socialist principles in the sustainable society and a non-violent successor, the SA. party at the time. nuclear free world’. For a brief time in the early nineties A was formally Its founding conference took place the Green Alliance fought with a registered in the state in 1985. Its in Leichhardt in June 1990, where a group calling itself the Green Party of members were concerned about constitution, political program and South Australia until it purged itself wilderness preservation and forestry, decentralised organisational structure of the DSP influence by proscribing but urban development issues and were ratified. Many members of members of other political parties ideas around direct democracy were the old CPA and other communist and the Green Party of SA was maybe even more significant. As one groups, including Castroites, joined deregistered by the Australian of its now leading lights—and then and it was hoped the party’s name Electoral Commission when its a dedicated servant of the Moscow would attract activists from across membership fell below 500, enabling aligned Socialist Party of Australia— the Left. The party failed, folding in the Greens SA to be formed in 1995. has observed, the band the early nineties, but searching for Its first parliamentary of political pioneers consisted of an alternative, many of its members representative, Legislative Councillor ‘environmental Mark Parnell, has and resident said that while activists, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OUR POLITICAL HISTORY, A PARTY OF many of the Greens nuclear NOT JUST THE LEFT, BUT THE EMPHATICALLY IDEOLOGICAL SA foundation disarmers, >LEFT, CONTROLS THE BALANCE OF POWER IN THE SENATE members had dissidents close links to the from the Labor ‘non-government Party, feminists, anarchists, those found the Greens. The New Left organisation conservation sector’; inspired by the German Greens and Party became a crucial crossing point many others came from the socialists of various kinds.’ between communist and the Greens ‘community legal centre movement Rhiannon says the party’s platform and gave a unique ideological flavour and human rights groups’. Parnell ‘emphasised social equality and a just to the NSW organisation. himself straddled both worlds, as society, with support for a nuclear free, The had a very a lawyer with the Environmental peaceful and sharing world; grassroots different origin. They were founded to Defender’s Office, a free community democracy; social freedom and support the bid for the Lord legal centre specialising in public equality for all people; a liveable city mayoralty in 1984 by veteran anti-war, interest environmental law. The and a sustainable and just democracy, disarmament and land rights activist human rights angle can be seen in working in harmony with the natural Drew Hutton, who had also taken an the Greens’ first Senator from the environment.’ interest in urban development issues state, Sarah Hanson-Young, a former Another key influence on the such as evictions from the inner city Amnesty International official and NSW Greens was the short lived New for new projects and freeway plans, as campaigner for asylum seekers. Left Party. The Communist Party the Brisbane Greens, their core largely The DSP again posed problems of Australia had split with Moscow drawn from anarchist groups. in . It formed a front over the invasion of Czechoslovakia. The group became inactive after organisation that took the name, The hardliners had continued on the unsuccessful campaign, but an the Victoria Greens Alliance. This as the SPA while the CPA became undercurrent of activity gradually competed with a broad-left body the increasingly Eurocommunist grew by the start of the nineties into Rainbow Alliance, a largely academic- in outlook. the Queensland Greens Network orientated group founded by La Trobe A broad left conference in Sydney which, after issuing an edict banning University’s Joe Camilleri and RMIT in 1986, the 1989 issuing of a ‘Time members of the hard-left Democratic teacher Belinda Probert. It advocated to act’ statement propounding the Socialist Party in 1991, rechristened a range of left policies on a broad front

20 IPA Review | ipa.org.au THE FAR-LEFT HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN GREENS R

of issues including urban planning, gained the balance of power in the set the agenda. This can be seen in the ecologically sustainable economics, Senate and a key vote in the House debate over the original mining super- Aboriginal land rights, equality, peace of Representatives at a time when the profits tax and on calls to lift the dole, and disarmament. It slipped into ALP primary vote is at levels unseen in Doug Cameron’s calls for increases decline in the early 1990s, particularly since the early 1930s when it saw in taxation, but nowhere is it more after the election of the Kennett state supporters follow Lyons to the UAP obvious than in the field of renewable government in 1992, and was formally and others peel off to back Lang Labor. energy. dissolved in 1996. The political spectrum swung The massive renewable energy The Australian Greens Victoria to the right in the eighties, when spending over recent years, let alone emerged in 1993. The party contested the Hawke government embraced the $10 green slush fund established just one seat in 1993 federal election economic reforms squibbed through under the carbon tax laws, show the and performed poorly in the 1996 the Fraser years. Now, under the power of the Greens and their allies poll despite a well-publicised influence of the Greens, we are seeing in the environmental NGOs and their campaign surrounding their lead it pulled back to the Left. influence on the government. The Senate candidate, the controversial For the first time in our political renewable energy lobby, along with the philosopher and animal rights activist history, a party of not just the Left, public health and education activists . It was not until 2010 that but the emphatically ideological left, so beloved by the Greens have not just the party finally succeeded in having controls the balance of power in taken the place of the manufacturers a candidate elected to the Senate, the the Senate. of half a century ago as the nation’s year the Greens made their House The became most successful rent seekers. Like of Representatives breakthrough increasingly left leaning as the party them, they are successfully inserting when Liberal preferences delivered evolved, but it was born as a body that themselves into the bureaucracy in a the electorate of Melbourne to Adam rejected the policies of both Labor and bid to guarantee more bounty flows Bandt, the first federal Green to win a Liberal as too extreme. It was naturally their way. lower house seat at a general election. inclined towards negotiation and This new proximity to power, The frenzy of factionalised state- compromise; to improving legislative however, has, as always happens based activity, ironically, delayed the outcomes rather than blocking them. when power is at hand, raised development of a national Greens Even under leaders such as Natasha tensions within the party over what party. Bob Brown’s official biographer, Stott-Despoja and now prominent direction to take and how far to go, James Norman, recalls how the NSW Green , Democrat tensions that are beginning to alert Greens frustrated the creation of a Andrew Murray won the admiration the electorate to the true nature of the national grouping as they owned the of both sides of politics for his efforts Greens—and threaten to spark major rights to the name ‘The Australian to maximise the social outcomes of division in the party. R Greens’. government while minimising its cost The story of the development of and reach. the Green parties outside Tasmania Likewise, despite the near- and the creation of the Australian successful efforts to rewrite history, Greens exposes the broad range of the Democratic Labor Party was a activist groups over and above the party of the centre too. It stood against environmental campaigners that have communism—but for the working most been identified with the party. man. Now, with the rise of the Greens, All of these come from the Left. the political dynamic has changed. All of them, by deliberate decision, The Labor Right grouping within 2011 by attempts at hijacking the party, the ALP has been able to restrain THE YEAR THE GREENS by something akin to osmosis or by the Left faction for a generation now TOOK THE BALANCE simply having nowhere else to go that with warnings of what loss of support offers any possibility for action, have from the great body of the voting OF POWER IN THE adopted the Greens as the vehicle they population will mean electorally. Now, AUSTRALIAN can use to implement a broad, hard- with the party under siege from both left agenda. sides—and the Greens surging into SENATE These left activists must be what was once its heartland—the Left delighted that the Greens have faction have seized an opportunity to