Rise of Tasmania's 'Green devils'

Australian politics will benefit when the Greens are better integrated into the system rather than frozen out, argues John Warhurst in Eureka Street THE NEW Tasmanian Labor government now includes one Green minister and one Green cabinet secretary. The discussion of this development has been too narrow, failing to learn from the ACT experiment of Green support for a minority Labor government. This neglects useful ACT lessons, including the current productive relations between the Greens and Labor, as well as the previous effective example of Independent Michael Moore serving as a minister in the Carnell Liberal government. The discussion also neglects developments elsewhere, including the role of Independent and National Party ministers within the Rann Labor government in South Australia until the last election. Once again this produced stable and effective government. Only passing consideration is given to the Liberal-Nationals alliance in Western Australia which supports the Liberal government of Colin Barnett... Read the full article Photo: The Greens\u27 Nick McKi