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Why the Greens want to freeze house prices · The Front

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  Speaker 1: the news from the Australian. From the Australian, here is
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  Speaker 1: what's on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Wednesday, July
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  Speaker 1: twenty four. The Muslim Vote campaign that's seeking to win
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  Speaker 1: law in Australia. This winter's power bills are going to hurt,
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  Speaker 1: as the Energy Market Operator reveals the wholesale cost of
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  Speaker 1: producing power those more than twenty percent on last year.
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  Speaker 1: The spike was driven by record electricity demand in June's
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  Speaker 1: in seven years. That story is live now at Beaustralian
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  Speaker 1: dot com dot U. The Greens want to freeze house prices,
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  Speaker 1: kill off colon gas, cancel the nuclear submarine deal and
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  Speaker 1: blow up our alliance with the United States. Today we
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  Speaker 1: dig into the policies driving a very ambitious minor party.
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  Speaker 1: Fifteen years ago, in most Australian cities you could buy
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  Speaker 1: a two or three bedroom home for around five hundred grand,
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  Speaker 1: within reach of schools and public transport. Today you need
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  Speaker 1: more than a million dollars. In Sydney the median house
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  Speaker 1: price is over one point sixty two million. It's the
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  Speaker 1: burning issue of our time, truly enraging for basically everybody
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  Speaker 1: under the age of forty, and the loudest voice on
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  Speaker 1: the issue the Greens.
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  Speaker 2: If Labour thinks that it's easy to get a head
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  Speaker 2: right now and that somehow a first home or even
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  Speaker 2: renting is in the reach of everyday people, then they
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  Speaker 2: are delusional.
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  Speaker 1: There used to be that we could say to young
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  Speaker 1: people in this country, if you study hard and if
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  Speaker 1: you work hard, you can lead a good life.
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  Speaker 3: The first home buy is The income required to buy
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  Speaker 3: an average home in a capital city in Australia is
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  Speaker 3: now one hundred and eighty seven thousand dollars. That is
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  Speaker 3: more than double the median national salary, more than double
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  Speaker 3: a new teacher or nurse's salary.
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  Speaker 4: The Greens plan is for house prices to stay where
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  Speaker 4: they are, and they're upfront about that objective.
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  Speaker 1: That's Joe Kelly, The Australian's National Affairs editor. He's been
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  Speaker 1: part of a big series The Australian's been running about
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  Speaker 1: what the Greens actually want.
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  Speaker 4: And they're quite open about saying that because their target
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  Speaker 4: audience for this policy is young people.
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  Speaker 1: They were and the name is a giveaway an environmental party,
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  Speaker 1: Now not so much.
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  Speaker 4: I don't think you can simply dismiss the Greens as
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  Speaker 4: of the friendly, tree hugging type of party that maybe
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  Speaker 4: a lot of people used to think of them as.
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  Speaker 4: I think they're a broader political party now and potentially
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  Speaker 4: they're going to be a lot more relevant, particularly if
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  Speaker 4: we fall into a minority parliament at the next election.
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  Speaker 4: Some of their policies are very radical. In the foreign
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  Speaker 4: policy space, I don't think that's an area lots of
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  Speaker 4: people would have paid much attention to. But the Greens
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  Speaker 4: want to review the ANSAs Alliance, they want to cancel
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  Speaker 4: the Orcus Arrangement, they want to slash defense spending and
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  Speaker 4: when you speak to them, they're quite frank about suggesting
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  Speaker 4: that the larger threat to Australia is really the US,
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  Speaker 4: not China. It's the relationship with the US that's likely
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  Speaker 4: to draw us into a conflict. On the economy, they're
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  Speaker 4: talking about the government intervening to completely override the Reserve
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  Speaker 4: Bank decision if the Reserve Bank hikes in August, and
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  Speaker 4: on some of these issues they want to push pretty
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  Speaker 4: hard and use their influence in a minority government situation.
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  Speaker 1: These are big ambitions for a party that only has
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  Speaker 1: a handful of seats in federal Parliament. So do the
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  Speaker 1: Greens want to govern?
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  Speaker 4: This is a really interesting question at the moment. The
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  Speaker 4: Green's political objective is not to wield the reigns of
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  Speaker 4: executive power. Adam Bant that made that very clear when
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  Speaker 4: I spoke to him. He wants to just continue this
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  Speaker 4: march through both houses, increase the number of lower House seats.
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  Speaker 4: And his argument is that the Greens ultimately will replace
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  Speaker 4: Labor as that authentic party of the sem To left.
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  Speaker 4: And so he's arguing that we're going to out labor
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  Speaker 4: labor to some extent, We're going to be better at
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  Speaker 4: strengthening the social safety net, We're going to be better
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  Speaker 4: at tackling economic inequality, We're going to be better at
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  Speaker 4: foreign policy independence. So I don't think their goal is
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  Speaker 4: to get Greens into cabinet, at least not anytime soon.
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  Speaker 4: It's simply to try and erode that labor vote, increase
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  Speaker 4: the number of MPs in Parliament, but particularly the lower House.
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  Speaker 4: So they've got four MPs in the lower House. Now
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  Speaker 4: across both houses they have fifteen MPs. It was sixteen
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  Speaker 4: but Lydia thoughte quit and if you look at the Nationals,
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  Speaker 4: I think the Nationals have about twenty one, so they
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  Speaker 4: are starting to become more influential as a third force
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  Speaker 4: in Australian politics.
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  Speaker 1: Should Labor be worried about the.
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  Speaker 4: Greens, Yes, yes, no. Labour should definitely be worried about
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  Speaker 4: the Greens. So the labor primary vote at the last election,
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  Speaker 4: by memory, was about thirty two six percent, which is
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  Speaker 4: an incredibly low primary vote. The Greens are targeting a
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  Speaker 4: whole range of labor seats, mostly labor seats, at the
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  Speaker 4: next election, not just in the inner cities, but mostly
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  Speaker 4: in the inner cities. I think labor MPs are vulnerable
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  Speaker 4: and I think there is a question of what happens
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  Speaker 4: once senior labor figures such as Tanya Plibisec such as
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  Speaker 4: Anthony Albanesi go on to leave the party. So the
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  Speaker 4: Greens pose a threat to Labor on the left flank.
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  Speaker 4: But really the goal for Labor has to be to
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  Speaker 4: ensure that it has a centrist policy position so that
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  Speaker 4: it can hold government and win over people who might
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  Speaker 4: occasionally be wanting to vote for the coalition. So it's
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  Speaker 4: got to manage those competing political imperatives.
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  Speaker 1: The issue that's getting the Greens a huge amount of
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  Speaker 1: attention right now is Gaza. They're involved in the movie
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  Speaker 1: that's seen huge rallies on city streets every weekend, and
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  Speaker 1: they've been loud and proud declaring Australia should be doing
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  Speaker 1: more to influence the behavior of our longtime ally Israel.
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  Speaker 2: The best time to stop this horrific invasion was eight
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  Speaker 2: months ago, but the next best time is now. There
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  Speaker 2: is a reason other countries around the world right now
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  Speaker 2: today are shifting their position to recognize the state of Palestine.
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  Speaker 2: Australia should join them.
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  Speaker 1: Recognition of Palestine is something Labor has grappled with for generations,
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  Speaker 1: but now in government, Labor is trying to walk a
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  Speaker 1: narrow line supporting Israel as an ally condemning the October
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  Speaker 1: seven attacks by hamas a terrorist organization and urging Israel
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  Speaker 1: to be restrained in its attacks on Gaza. That's made
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  Speaker 1: life tough for some Labor MPs, including Afghan Born's Senator
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  Speaker 1: Fatima Payman. She voted with the Greens on a motion
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  Speaker 1: recognizing Palestine, and then she accused Labor of punishing and
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  Speaker 1: ostracizing her for her views. She's now left the party
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  Speaker 1: to sit on the cross bench. The Greens say there
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  Speaker 1: are no two sides to this conflict, now entering its
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  Speaker 1: ninth decade. They say Israel is bad. The policy on
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  Speaker 1: Gaza is hardcore, isn't it, Joe. It's not one that
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  Speaker 1: they could hold if they were actually in government.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I think the problem with the Green's position on
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  Speaker 4: Gaza is I think that they're saying things which are
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  Speaker 4: very questionable. They're holding or the accusation against Labor is
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  Speaker 4: that Australia is complicit in a genocide. This is the
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  Speaker 4: Green's position that Australia is complicit in a genocide happening
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  Speaker 4: in the Middle East. Now, I think that's a proposition
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  Speaker 4: that most Australians wouldn't accept. I don't think that's correct.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's an inflammatory mischaracterization of what's happening, and
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  Speaker 4: Labor and the Liberal Party have turned on the Greens
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  Speaker 4: for making those sorts of statements, and they've gone a
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  Speaker 4: step further and said that they're fueling their sense of
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  Speaker 4: division and social unrest. So that's now a level of
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  Speaker 4: criticism and scrutiny the Greens are getting that perhaps they
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  Speaker 4: wouldn't have had ten years ago. This is a foreign
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  Speaker 4: policy position now and they were condemned in the Parliament
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  Speaker 4: over it.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up how the Greens killed off Labour's emissions trading
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  Speaker 1: scheme and what they say about climate now. This series
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  Speaker 1: on the Greens is a ball terrer, just ripping exclusives
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  Speaker 1: day after day, including Jewish Greens members saying they feel
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  Speaker 1: betrayed by the movement they once believed in. You can
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  Speaker 1: check out the series right now at the Australian dot
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  Speaker 1: com dou We'll be back after this break. You might
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  Speaker 1: expect the greatest dividing politics to be left versus right,
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  Speaker 1: progressives versus conservatives. In fact, in Australian politics, the most
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  Speaker 1: bitter enmity is Labor versus the Greens. Perhaps their most
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  Speaker 1: damaging policy clash dates back to two thousand and nine,
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  Speaker 1: the year the Greens killed Labour's carbon pollution reduction scheme
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  Speaker 1: and helped kill off Kevin Rudd temporarily, at least at
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  Speaker 1: the time, Rudd was Prime Minister for the first time,
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  Speaker 1: and it swept a power on a wave of emotion about,
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  Speaker 1: among other things, what RD called the greatest moral challenge
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  Speaker 1: of our time for.
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  Speaker 4: Our long term future.
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  Speaker 5: There is no more important difference between mister Howard and
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  Speaker 5: myself than on climate change.
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  Speaker 1: Krod's solution was an emissions trading scheme to limit greenhouse
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  Speaker 1: gas pollution. It was wildly controversial. Environmentalists said it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: tough enough, business said it would kill off industry. Green's
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  Speaker 1: leader at the time, Bob Brown, ran an aggressive ad
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  Speaker 1: campaign gooda Australia.
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  Speaker 5: Here's what's happening. Kevin Rudd wants us to pass a
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  Speaker 5: bill which would give pollutas billions of dollars and sets
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  Speaker 5: targets way too low to stop climate change. He's locking
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  Speaker 5: in failure. He wants you to believe that the only
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  Speaker 5: choice is between his bill and no bill at all.
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  Speaker 5: That's buncom I'm asking Australians to stand with the Greens
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  Speaker 5: right now.
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  Speaker 1: Brown and the Greens voted it down in the Senate twice,
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  Speaker 1: and Labor admitted defeat, shelving the bill in twenty ten
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  Speaker 1: to avoid going to a double dissolution election. Labour people
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  Speaker 1: still see that the Greens sacrificed a pretty good idea
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  Speaker 1: because it wasn't perfect. The Greens were criticized for being
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  Speaker 1: too pure. That's changed, or has it.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know if it has. That's really my benchmark
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  Speaker 4: on whether the Greens are a more mature, evolved party,
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  Speaker 4: whether they're prepared to actually vote for incremental change rather
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  Speaker 4: than trying to get the hail Mary utopia vision in
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  Speaker 4: one go. We all know that that's not possible, and
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  Speaker 4: that's what protest parties are all about. They're about saying
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  Speaker 4: none of this is good enough, our policies are where
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  Speaker 4: we should be, and we should achieve it all in
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  Speaker 4: one swoop. Well, that's just not how progress works. And
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  Speaker 4: I think too many of the Greens policies are still
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  Speaker 4: too extreme, particularly on climate. So their climate policy is
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  Speaker 4: to reach net zero by twenty thirty five for a
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  Speaker 4: seventy five percent reduction by twenty thirty They want to
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  Speaker 4: phase out of coal completely, including coal exports. By the
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  Speaker 4: end of decade. So I think the question for them
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  Speaker 4: is the extent to which they're prepared to compromise to
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  Speaker 4: get better outcomes without being wreckers in the hopes of
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  Speaker 4: realizing some futile utopia. And I don't think the Greens
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  Speaker 4: are quite there yet because, as I said at the start,
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  Speaker 4: they're just aiming for small demographics. They're not really backing
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  Speaker 4: a policy platform that's going to appeal broadly, I think,
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  Speaker 4: to all Australians.
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  Speaker 1: Joe Kelly is The Australian's National Affairs edited up. There
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  Speaker 1: are more thrills and spills in US politics, and now
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