by REX WIDERSTROM – THE Greens have insisted they’ll play no part in supporting a Liberal minority government after the next federal election.
With recent opinion polls suggesting a possible minority government led by Peter Dutton, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said her Party would use the Senate to block a Coalition agenda.
- Hanson-Young declared Greens are “fired up” and “ready to go”.
- “Our environment is on the brink of collapse,” she said.
- She warned Musk would “platform Dutton over Anthony Albanese”.
“We will be the insurance in the parliament to stop that,” she said.
“We’ll stop Peter Dutton from pushing people’s power prices nuclear. We will stop his dangerous attack on renewables and his culture wars that want to drive division in this country rather than unity.”
ACCESSION
Upon his leadership accession, Mr Dutton initially trailed far behind PM Anthony Albanese in terms of popularity – due to a perceived lack of support from female voters – due mainly to his “hard” image.
During the past two years, however, the Coalition leader has chipped away at the Labor’s popularity as cost of living gnaws at Mr Albanese’s struggling leadership.
The prime minister has also suffered a series of public relations missteps including his decision to purchase a $4.3m property and his handling of the Adass Israel Synagogue firebombing.
Further, Dutton’s decisions to back the “No” campaign against the Voice and propose the adoption of civilian nuclear power, have helped differentiate the Coalition’s policy offerings from Labor – some the previous Morrison Liberal government failed to do.
Meanwhile, the Greens have changed tone following a chastening 2024 where the Party made fewer inroads across several elections, and have adopted a harsher stance towards the Coalition while working to appear more amenable to Labor.
Hanson-Young declared the Greens are “fired up” and “ready to go whenever the prime minister decides to call the election”.
COLLAPSE
“We are living in a world where our climate is getting worse. Our environment is on the brink of collapse,” she said.
“We’re losing native species and habitats and natural spaces at a rate like never before, and we have a huge cost of living crisis that’s impacting very vulnerable groups within our community, and we need solutions.”
She warned X owner Elon Musk would “start platforming Dutton more than Anthony Albanese”.
Hanson-Young said the alliance between the owners of social media and other tech companies and Trump was “worrying” and “you can already see Elon Musk thinking that he wants to flex his political muscle now outside the US and across the world”.
Mr Albanese also weighed in saying social media platforms needed to moderate content.
“Social media has a social responsibility,” he said.
“I’ve met too many parents who’ve lost their young ones as a result of the impact that social media has had.
“We know that the rise in mental health issues for young people is linked with social media,” he added.PC
