07/23/2002 Archived Entry: "Green success"

The issue of Tasmanian Logging Yields World Record Green Vote. An interesting turn of events. In the previous cycle, the Greens gained seats in the 35 member House:

But the parliamentary longevity of the Tasmanian Greens antagonized the existing political parties and major industry lobby groups. In 1996 both the Labor and Liberal parties combined to change the electoral system, without a referendum, by reducing the number of seats in the lower house from 35 to 25. It was expected that by increasing the vote needed to win a seat in the five member electorates from 12.5 percent to 16.7 percent, the Greens would be eliminated.

What happened? The Green Party polled 18.2 percent statewide - described as the highest Green vote in state or national elections anywhere in the world. So now, the Greens have 4 seats, up from 1; the Liberals (Republican-like) have 6 seats, down from 10; and Labour (Democrat-like) has 15 seats, up from 14.

Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon is not prepared at this stage to concede any changes to his forest policy. “Clearly there is a significant percentage of people in the electorate who are concerned," about old-growth logging, he acknowledged. "We are going to try and turn the perception around,” he told a media conference on Sunday.

Sounds like the Labour Party is in a state of denial. They can afford it, as the majority they have right now is safe by 3 seats, but clearly, they are underestimating the Green Party's staying power. Especially given that the youth vote is probably the highest voter percentage for the Green Party.