Environment

WISE MOVE: Greens political party Police check their own Senate candidates for “serious crimes”

In an amusing yet perhaps reassuring move, the ultra-left Greens political party have turned to their natural foes, the Police, to background check their prospective candidates for the Senate at the next federal election.

The issue arises because the left-wing Greens political party are about to start their preselection carnival, with big contests for the “leading” candidate spot in NSW and Victoria looming large on their horizon.

A Greens party aligned website has revealed the candidates before their party hierarchy has vetted them for things like “criminal convictions” (quite seriously, Police checks are a standard part of their practice, for understandable reasons given the form of some of their more radical members).

One of their indiscreet high officials Stephen Luntz told the site that candidates are kept secret so that they can be background checked:

However, we do have a “probity panel”. They check to see that people don’t have issues such as serious criminal records, being on the public record denouncing the Greens etc. This panel is still checking. I have no reason to think they will find anything…

We don’t share Luntz’s confidence. It certainly has taken them a while to announce the final list.

In New South Wales, the candidates who’ve publicly announced usually via website include:

• Ted Bassingthwaighte – a former NSW Police officer who supposedly has “Green views” about drugs although hopefully not in the way recently portrayed in the Underbelly series
• Adam Butler – Inner West Greens
• Cate Faehrmann – Director of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW since 2004, previously SA lead Senate candidate in 2001.
• Keith McIlroy – Lane Cove councillor since 2008
• Lee Rhiannon – Sitting Member of the Legislative Council since 1999 and space cadet.

In Victoria, the home of all-powerful Brunswick based power-tsar Greg Barber, there are a number of contenders and pretenders.

• Jennifer Alden – Lead candidate for Northern Victoria, 2006 state election
• Peter Campbell – Candidate for Kooyong in 2001, 2004 and 2007, amongst other elections.
• Richard di Natale – Lead Senate candidate in 2007, candidate for state seat of Melbourne 2002, 2006.
• Jim Reiher – Lead candidate for South-Eastern Metropolitan, 2006 state election
• Janet Rice – Former Mayor of Maribyrnong and Vice President of the Victorian Local Government Association.
• David Risstrom – Former Melbourne City Councillor, lead Senate candidate in 2004.
• And more, yet to be announced, pending Police checks.

The stakes are really high this time for the ultra left-wing party because a double dissolution is a real possibility (halving the number of votes they require for election) making it highly likely they’d win a seat in NSW and Victoria and possibly even Queensland, if the moon and stars are in correct alignment.

The Victorian contest is highly likely to be an arm-wrestle between David Risstrom and Greg Barber’s brother-in-law Dr Richard di Natale.

Vic Greens political party “strategist” Stephen Luntz – whose makeover can be seen here – is normally a pious advocate of openness and transparency in politics but has told the Greens friendly site Tally Room:

Hi Ben, I can confirm there are several more candidates in the Vic Greens preselection race, but can’t yet reveal who they are unless they choose to do so themselves.

How very Melbourne Club Committee election is that?

Luntz while hushing up the potential criminal backgrounds of prospective Greens Senators has fessed up secrets about how their political process works:

Aside from the probity panel the process is pretty straight-forward. Candidates need four nominators who must all be financial members of the party. The candidate writes a spiel of up to 1000 words, and the nominators up to 200 words each on why they are endorsing this person. There is a postal ballot of all members with a standard preferential count to select the top position. Lower positions will be selected later by a different method. There will be five Meet-The-Candidates meetings around the state, which I hope will be better attended than last time.

In other words, Greg Barber focuses on making sure the postal ballots are sent in and doesn’t muck around with kumbayah singing around the camp-fire at Meet the Candidates snooze fests. He really should be in the Labor Right, where he professes occasional love, except for what he amusingly describes as the “John Lenders faction.” He doesn’t like them because they won’t buy him off with extra staff in return for upper house votes. If you squint carefully and reverse his social views, you can see a close resemblance between Tassie Senator Brian Harradine and Greg Barber. Horse traders R US.

The indiscreet Luntz also raised the spectre of faction feuding going on in the Greens party in his state:

As RO I can’t comment on policy differences etc, but I will stretch the bounds of my position to say that last time you couldn’t get a wafer between 6 of the 7 candidates on a policy basis. All those outsiders hoping for huge splits in the Greens between “realos” and “fundis”, or the “red-greens” versus the “leafy greens” would have been very disappointed, although we have seen some of those divisions in previous Vic preselections, and maybe we will again.

Dr di Natale and Risstrom are seen as realistic types, Janet Rice and most of the others are considered slightly lunatic. Risstrom though is a starry-eyed idealist while di Natale hails from the Greg Barber power-faction.

Our money would be on the good doctor.

© 2009 VEXNEWS 2010©.