Voters go green in key Australian seats as knife-edge election looms

Published on Friday 13 August 2010 16:49

Voters in the sleepy Australian village of Braidwood are increasingly turning to the Greens, a portent for the major parties ahead of a knife-edged 21 August election.

Braidwood is in the Eden-Monaro electorate in the south-east and a seat that, since 1972, whichever party wins has gone on to form the government.

It is currently held by Labour, but the mood is changing, with growing frustration over the lack of action on climate change. The shift, however, is more toward the Greens than the conservative opposition.

"There certainly is an increasing interest in Green values out here," Braidwood local Nerida Taylor said in a town where farmers and logging workers mix with "tree changers", who have moved from Canberra and Sydney for a country lifestyle.

Australia's small Greens party is polling more than 12 per cent across the nation, putting it on course to secure the balance of power in the upper house Senate and become kingmaker on policies such as a new mining tax and carbon trading, say opinion polls.

The Greens, lead by Senator Bob Brown, are in favour of both policies, but have hinted they may want to "green-up" Labour prime Minister Julia Gillard's planned 30 per cent mining tax which will hit iron ore and coal miners.

Eden-Monaro is a rural seat, featuring pristine beaches, prime farmlands and forests, and stretches up to Australia's alpine snow fields and ski resorts.

"The big issues out here are global. We need to take some difficult decisions on climate change," said Mr Taylor.

A Morgan poll has predicted the Greens could go from five to as many as ten seats in the new Senate, giving the party a key role in passing or blocking laws when the major parties disagree.

Green support has grown since Labour's former prime minister Kevin Rudd postponed his landmark carbon trade scheme in April.

Ms Gillard, who replaced Rudd on 24 June, also wants a delay on the plan to put a price on pollution. Opposition leader Tony Abbott opposes carbon trading or any price on carbon emissions.

Both sides want emissions cuts of 5 per cent by 2020.

The Greens are calling for much deeper emissions cuts and a carbon tax on big industry until carbon trading can start.

But the shift to the Greens is also evident in key marginal inner city seats, where voters are disillusioned with the policy similarities of the government and opposition.

"Its Wally one or Wally two," said John Mitchell, a swing voter from inner-city Melbourne, who is determined to back the Greens for the first time.

"Climate change is real. Australia really needs to do something about it. But it doesn't seem to be translating into action by the major parties yet," he said, adding Mr Rudd's decision to shelve the carbon trade scheme shifted his thinking.

Mr Mitchell is part of a city-based surge to the Greens.Labour has real concerns that the Greens could now pull off a surprise win in the safe seat of Melbourne, where the popular local member, finance minister Lindsay Tanner, is retiring.

Analyst Nick Economou from Melbourne's Monash University believes the Greens will fall short of winning a lower house seat. But the party will be kingmakers in the upper house.