Will a Change in Greens Leadership make the Nationals Redundant?
With the moderately surprising news that Christine Milne had decided to step out of her current political life, Dr Richard Di Natale moved into the driver’s seat for the Greens. And I flag that this spells trouble for the National Party because this shift, this change in voice and style, connected to similar passions, will offer the traditionally National voting rural constituent, the ‘go signal’ for change. And here’s why:
- The high level of disenchantment with the national’s support for mining over farming particularly across NSW and QLD;
- The ongoing saga of perceived practises of the #Duopoly, Coles & Woolworths, and their treatment of farmers;
- The threats posed to rural and semi rural communities through Coal Seam gas fracking and threats to fresh water supplies from the chemicals used in that process;
- The perceived collapse in ‘independent voice’ at the Federal level with too many coalition aligned policies seemingly out of whack with rural concerns.
- And into that mix, the support many rural communities received from the ‘feral’ green types trying to stop Maules Creek and other mining projects.
What those protests enabled for perhaps the first time, was a realisation on the part of the rural communities, that the people they thought were merely tree huggers, actually shared a similar concerns and passion – love for the land, the environment and the future. When you have a local farmer coming out publicly and saying that ‘I would have lost my farm if not for these people’ then you have a shift in awareness. That message, that impetus was clearly shown in state voting patterns, especially in NSW where inroads into vote % were significant. This was no protest vote, it was a fundamental shift in thinking of large sections of country Australia.
And now, with a new face at the helm of the National Greens, someone who has worked in the rural sector, who has seen the plights of people some distances from the cities, is a messenger that could parlay that growing Greens/Rural alignment into a significant shift in political representation. For over a decade I’ve suggested that the natural political alignment is between the Greens and the Nationals. It’s not yet a comfortable fit, but it is a natural one. This new Greens leadership could well make the Nationals (at least the current group) redundant, for if all they do is represent non rural sector interests over those of their constituents, those same constituents will find voice through those who do.
A quick note for the history buffs among us – in this month of August fifty years ago, the first components of the Berlin Wall were constructed with rings of barbed wire severing Berlin into visually distinct west and east Berlin. Russia’s main challenge at that time was the 10,000 or so East Germans each…
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Read More >Below you’ll find this afternoon’s discussion with ABC Darwin radio in which host Vicki Kerrigan chats with futurist Marcus Barber about the emerging research into lab grown meat as a potential addition to or replacement of, existing livestock farming methods. The program streamed live on 105.7 ABC Darwin this afternoon, discussing the University of…
Read More >Continuing the futures discussions on ABC Darwin Radio, this time with Paul Dale who is filling in for Vicki Kerrigan whilst Vicki is handling the breakfast time slot, we discuss some of the conference sessions at the World Futures Conference here in Vancouver You can listen to the audio stream here and cue this…
Read More >My slides from today’s presentation on ‘Getting You Future Right’ can be found at the link below To those at the session, my apologies for the technical challenges and hope these slides can provide more context for you – contact me if you have any questions. Access the Slides Here
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Read More >Futurist Marcus Barber will be joining ABC’s Vicki Kerrigan in Darwin for the first of an ongoing discussion about the future this Wednesday. Each week on Wednesday afternoon’s, Vicki and Marcus will discuss the future of something, how we prepare for the future, what the future looks like for some industries and other related futures…
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Read More >On Thursday I’ll be part of the panel that wraps up the National Manufacturing Week 2011 in Melbourne at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre under the theme of Meeting the challenges of the next generation of manufacturing with a focus on Innovation and Sustainability. It should be an interesting chat as we consider what…
Read More >There’s lots to like about borrowing ideas from other areas especially where those ideas can lead to a significant positive shift. In the link below, Zaid Ali Alsagoff an educational blogging specialist highlights why the Finnish Education system stands as a potential model to embrace. And whilst there are examples of this type of thinking…
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