Having read the front page article of the Magnet (8 October), there were no surprises that the Greens have called for an end to logging in native forests.
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They do that every time they open their mouth about native forests.
“Saving” native forests is the big vote winner in inner city electorates where those living in suburb after suburb that once grew native forests and grassland have the delusion that they lead ecologically sustainable lives and harvesting and regeneration of a small portion of the remaining forest is a sin against mother earth.
Lee Rhiannon, is a leading light in the party that presents itself as all things to all people. They are the party that supposedly care for everybody, except for those of us who work in the forest industries.
While the Greens have ridden to popularity on the back of save the native forests campaigns and a belief in grassroots democracy, is this what the Greens really stand for? What lies behind this façade?
At the last NSW election, in the upper house, the Greens party polled 9.92 percent of the vote, while the Socialist Alliance polled 0.2 percent of the vote. The Greens obtained 2 seats and the Socialist Alliance none.
So it is understandable that anyone with Socialist beliefs might join another party that had more chance of electoral success.
Below is a photo of three Greens party upper house members of the NSW parliament. Why would these “Greens” chose to be photographed behind a Socialist Alliance banner if they are actually Greens politicians? When I put this question to three greens, including Keith Hughes outside the Greens party conference in Merimbula earlier this year, the door was immediately closed to end the discussion.
Aside from taking the name of a strong minded other world woman from Welsh mythology, what values does Lee Rhiannon actually hold? Does she hold similar beliefs and values to those her fellow party members above seem to support? Is the Green Party actually part of the Socialist Alliance?
The link below is a reminder of some of Ms Rhiannon’s political history and begs the question as to whether she has really changed her political beliefs and values, or like the Greens party, keep generally unpopular political objectives buried behind redrafted policies.
Peter Rutherford
Merimbula