Another good knock shows Greens aren't swingers

The three major parties hit the hustings for an intense 3 week campaign in this Altona by-election.  Labor and Liberal both pulled out all stops with media and letter box blitzes, digging deep into cash reserves.  The Greens pushed hard out in the community, building on the excellent advocacy of Colleen Hartland MLC over the last few years.

For the first time in the history of this seat, the Labor party needed the preferences of the Greens and independents to get elected, their primary vote falling short of the 50% required.  We grew our primary vote to 10.43%, now above the state average for the Lower House at the 2006 election of 10.04%. 

I stress the word 'grew' our vote, with the dominance of the two parties in the psyche of the Australian people, voting for the Greens is completely different to voting Liberal to lodge a protest vote.  There are additional hurdles; is it a wasted vote, are they just a bunch of hippies, do they only have one issue, can they be trusted?  It represents a commitment to go beyond the status quo.

This by-election shows once again there is a growing awareness that the Thirdy party can and does make a difference, that there is a better way forward, that we can revitalise our democracy and break the stalemate.

It also shows that with the continued growth of the grass roots of the Greens, the reliance on consensus, the value of contribution, that we can organise and contest elections as effectively as the well heeled parties.  Well the support act is over the Main Events, state and national, are rolling in - lets make it a good year.