Anonymous asked: Do you hate the Greens because they represent what you think the Labor Party should be?
I guess that would pass as wit among the weekly meeting of People Concerned for the Endangered Starfish of the Tropical Rainforests in Burma.
I don’t “hate” the Greens. I find it difficult to hate any person or organisation, if we are to apply the true meaning of that word. I think it is thrown around with far too much ease with little deference to what it actually means.
I simply find it interesting that the Greens, who begged for any semblance of power for years, are now jumping up and down at the scrutiny that inevitably comes with holding power. It was Bob Brown who lashed out at the “hate media,” or as it is known to the ALP and Coalition, the Fourth Estate. I simply think they should be willing to take some scrutiny if they want to sit at the adults table; if not, go back to the sandpit and shout loudly so we can ignore you.
I also think they have to spend some time actually contributing to public policy debates, not just shouting from the sidelines and hoping that everyone else comes around to their point of view. How arrogant. If they want to shout loudly and insist that they are right about everything, they should go back to the sandpit and leave the governing to the adults in the room. It is about compromise and negotiation, not insisting that it be done your way or not at all. It is no dissimilar to the idea that ‘what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is negotiable.’ They can’t expect everybody else to negotiate away their position while not moving at all themselves. That is not how it works.
So either grow up or go home.
