The Australian Greens are determined to blame their party's drubbing in the ACT election squarely on local issues, in the hope the poor result will not be repeated at a federal level.
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But behind closed doors, the party is fearful its influence on national politics will also be severely diminished at next year's federal election.
Senior Greens operatives have told The Canberra Times that the ACT election result has shocked the party's leaders.
''The strategy now is to insist that the ACT election was all about ACT issues and has very little to do with the Greens federally,'' one Greens member said.
''But the party is rattled by it. It's the latest bad result for us in elections around the country since the last federal election … National polling still shows our vote holding up but no one is taking any heart from the ACT election result.''
As the territory count progressed this week, the outcome for the ACT Greens became bleaker, causing the federal leadership to publicly avoid the issue. Greens leader Christine Milne and deputy leader Adam Bandt dodged questions from The Canberra Times this week about the federal implications of the result.
Senator Milne's office said the leader was taking a rare day off when contacted on Thursday and was not commenting, despite the fact she issued media statements on other topics that day.
The Canberra Times was referred to Mr Bandt's office, which initially promised a response from the deputy leader but then refused to return subsequent calls when no comment was forthcoming.
During a press conference on Monday, Senator Milne said she was disappointed with the ACT result but still hopeful the Greens would hold three seats. But she acknowledged that there was a conservative swing sweeping the nation.
The Greens leader said the biggest federal implication of the ACT election was that Liberal oppositions would run negative campaigns.
''In the national context, that was Tony Abbott coming out making the lie about carbon pricing and he hasn't got away with it because he didn't force an early election,'' she said. ''In the ACT, Zed Seselja came out with his total misrepresentation on rates and so based his whole campaign on one frame, which was inaccurate.''
But as it became clearer that the ACT result was even worse than initially thought, the federal leadership went quiet.
''If we couldn't attract a decent vote in Canberra of all places, well, it just doesn't bode well for the federal election,'' one Greens member said. ''Expect to see a lot more of Christine out there stressing points of differences between Labor and the Greens.''
Another senior Greens member said there was a ''great sense of unease'' and that high-profile candidates were being sought.
Former GetUp! national director Simon Sheikh this week announced his intention to seek Greens preselection for an ACT Senate seat.
''That is a good move,'' a Greens contact said yesterday. ''Simon is well-known and a hard worker and it's not out of the question that the Greens can win that spot.''
