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Greens at odds over leadership as suitors knock

21 Oct, 2008 10:10 AM
The Greens have been unable to decide who will lead them in the next Assembly despite meeting to resolve the issue yesterday.

Emerging from Saturday's ACT election holding three seats and the balance of power in the Legislative Assembly, the party refused requests for an interview after meeting behind closed doors yesterday.

The Canberra Times understands the Greens' three Members-elect Shane Rattenbury, Meredith Hunter and Amanda Bresnan met for about four hours yesterday to discuss the party's leadership and their strategy for negotiations with the two major parties. Greens spokesman Tom Burmester said the discussions were set to continue.

The indecision over leadership comes before expected negotiations with Labor and Liberal representatives to decide which party will win the Greens' backing to form a minority government.

The party said it would meet representatives from the ALP sometime this afternoon and would hold a meeting with the Liberals tomorrow morning.

Both the Liberals and Labor Party have said nothing will be off the table in negotiations, including the possibility of a cabinet post for one of the Greens. But uncertainty about who will be the party leader may delay those negotiations.

Both of the would-be chief ministers have spruiked their claims for the Greens' support.

Labor leader Jon Stanhope claimed victory and said Saturday's result had shown his party was clearly the public's choice, despite a 9 per cent swing against it. He said the Labor Party had received the most votes, and had outpolled the Liberals on a two-party-preferred basis.

''We have won this election. The people of Canberra have invested in us the responsibility for governing the community for the next four years,'' Mr Stanhope said.

He and his deputy, Katy Gallagher, will constitute the Labor team to meet the three Greens representatives.

Mr Stanhope said he was confident a resolution would be reached soon. ''I don't see it so much as a negotiation meeting, I'm not sure what there is to negotiate,'' he said.

Liberal leader Zed Seselja said Mr Stanhope's comments were spurious. ''I think they're very presumptuous for someone who suffered a very big swing against him personally. He seems to have learnt nothing from the election result.

''It says he's absolutely taking them for granted: he sees them [the Greens] as proxy Labor votes.''

The Liberal leader said the majority of voters had heeded the Chief Minister's advice when he warned that any vote swing away from Labor could see a Liberal government, with only 37 per cent of voters indicating they wanted another Labor government. Mr Seselja said thousands of voters had selected candidates who had run with an anti-Stanhope message.

But he said both sides would need to accept the reality of a minority government. ''People clearly have voted for a power-sharing arrangement: they haven't overwhelmingly endorsed for a major party and that's how we are progressing.''

Updated results from the Australian Electoral Commission have not changed the likely make-up of the Assembly, suggesting a 7-7-3 split as first predicted.

Molonglo appears to be the closest contest with the Liberals and Greens contesting the final seat. The Liberals currently hold 2.5 quotas to the Greens 1.5, before preferences.

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Perhaps Mr Stanhope could commission a environmental impact study on what a 9% swing means in terms of a electors mandate. My reading of it is Labour has been shown the door by a traditional Labour stronghold.
Posted by Ghost, 21/10/2008 7:29:13 AM
This is fantastic news for Canberra people. The Greens are about community needs not dirty major party political donations like the major parties. People will finally havea voice in the ACT.
Posted by Daniel, 21/10/2008 8:09:43 AM
My concern is Stanhopes' beligerant attitude to others who do not agree with his ideas/propoganda e.g. remember his patronising comments about Deb Foskey when she was the only one that raised concerns about Corbell and Stanhopes Crimes (controlled operations) Act 2008. Ms Foskey raised concerns that the Act could aid corruption & that ACT policing lacks oversight. This is scary that the Greens are ambivalent and may allow Stanhope and his ministers to continue in the same vein. I just hope the greens have learnt by the conduct of the Stanhope majority Gov that dictated so much to the community without consultation in so many areas.
Posted by Heidi, 21/10/2008 8:57:24 AM
Looks like we are in for a fun four years if the Greens cannot even decide who their own Greens party leader will be.. I would be suprised if it is not going to be Shane Rattenbury. As for their next decision to select Labor or the Liberals well if they go with Labor they are going to be letting down 63% of Canberra who voted for a non Stanhope led party, yes Labor got more votes than the Liberals overall but look at the 15% negative swing against Stanhope personally compared to a 13% positive to Zed !
Posted by CV, 21/10/2008 9:03:01 AM
I hope the Greens make the sensible choice and Meredith Hunter leads them in the Assembly. Meredith has such great links into our community and her engagement and willigness to listen as I have witnessed throughout the campaign will be an enormous asset in what could otherwise become a pretty testoserone and ego driven Assembly.
Posted by Penny R, 21/10/2008 9:30:29 AM
HEY..THE PEOPLE VOTED THE 3 GREEN CANDIDATES IN...SO ITS EASY THEY WANT LABOUR OUT....
Posted by BALDY, 21/10/2008 9:41:11 AM
Zed managed to get the Liberal party a 3.5% swing against them so I don't know why he's boasting. Both major parties lost support but Labor is still ahead as more Canberrans voted for Labor than they did Liberal. Clearly they just did not want a majority government so the pendulum did swing. The Greens will certainly take advantage of this result to get as much as they can for themselves and string out their decision making in a hope to get the parties to put more and more on the negotiation table for them to bite at. Ironically most Liberal Party voters hates greenies so it would not be a good mix. Zed is desperate enough to be Chief Minister, however, so he's probably willing to let them govern as long as he can be figurehead.
Posted by Mary, 21/10/2008 10:34:14 AM
The way the Libs are attacking Jon Stanhop, using the less-than-ethical "ad-hominem" method (play the man rather than the policies/issues) underestimates the intelligence of Canberra voters and does not help their cause ...
Posted by Andrew, 21/10/2008 10:49:54 AM
I find it amazing that the greens didn't have potential leadership of their own party sewn up before the election began. How hard would it have been to select a leader, with a fallback option if that person didn't win a seat? And now we have these people holding the balance of power... *shudder*
Posted by Craig, 21/10/2008 10:57:24 AM
How ridiculous! I doubt the Greens will get any votes in the next election if they choose to preference the Liberals!
Posted by AV, 21/10/2008 11:10:07 AM
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