THE Greens are finished. They lost more than a third of their voters in Tasmania’s election and are everywhere in retreat.
In Saturday’s election, in the Greens’ birthplace, the party’s vote crashed from 21 per cent to 13.
Last year’s federal election was little better. The party lost 500,000 voters — more than a quarter of their support — in the Senate poll.
In the 2012 ACT election, the Greens were also hammered, losing a third of their vote. In Western Australia last year, they lost a quarter.
The Greens did a little better in South Australia on Saturday and New South Wales in 2011, but only as Labor’s vote fell to new lows and supporters looked for a refuge.
But the fantasy of the Greens taking over from Labor is over.
The Greens have been exposed as great at striking fine poses but useless at the pragmatic work of government.
They are the party for dreamers, not doers.
Playing with real power has destroyed them.
In 2010, the Greens struck a power-sharing deal with Labor committing the Gillard government to a disastrous carbon tax that killed jobs without helping the climate.
Typical Greens — backing policies which only seem good but don’t do it.
They are the party of unreason, and when the country ran out of money we could no longer afford them.
Same in Tasmania. The Greens were welcomed by Labor into government and took two ministerial positions.
Tragically, Tasmania became the nursery for the Green experiment, which Labor, gutted of its own vision, seemed unable to resist.
Tasmania is now the poorest state with the highest unemployment. No, the Greens are finished
