The Australian Green Party 2/14/12 revision

The Australian Green Party has seen significant growth recently. In the past election alone, they’ve increased their seats in Congress from 6 to 9. They now have the support of almost 12 percent of the population, and have now emerged as the third largest party in Australia. With Australia operating under a proportional election system for its Senate elections, this means something.

However, the Green Party’s success is not without its “growing pains.” In an effort to grow the party, the Greens have expanded their platform from its original stance on protecting the environment, to incorporating other issues of interest among the Australian electorate. In this effort to grow the party, a growing rift is forming from within. The leftist Greens remain staunch on the party’s original value of environmental protection, but the moderate Greens are moving toward the center, compromising on less than ideal policies to get something rather than nothing.

It can be thought that the rift that is forming in the Australian Green party is a result of being solicited by competing principles. John Carey talks about competing principles and how they can weaken party unity. Ideally, party leaders of the Green party would want its elected legislators to practice strong party cohesion. This could provide a foundation whereon the Green party could then expand on. However, the geographic of the Green party is playing a part in its division. Greens from the western side of Australia were previous members of the Greens Western Australia (WA). They tend to be more moderate in nature. The traditional Greens come from the eastern side of the country and are more liberal on the spectrum. Although these two groups have coalesced to form a single Green party, their differences may lead to their eventual division again. Their electorate slightly differ from one another, which means they are electing legislators based on slight differences in ideology. These legislators are then voting within the legislature outside of party lines, weakening party unity. This is not something that the Australian Green party can consider simple "growing pains."


-Kerr, Christian. "'Growing pains' divide the Greens, says Senator Lee Rhiannon." The Australian 02 Feb 2012, Web. 31 Mar. 2012. <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/growing-pains-divide-the-greens-says-senator-rhiannon/story-fn59niix-1226269133812>.