Beware as green turns to red

AS the man who fought off the influence of the extreme Right on the Nationals, I am in a good position to advise Labor on the extreme Left. The Labor party must fight off the extreme Left that is influencing it (the Greens).

The recent anti-Semitic comments expressed by parliamentary members of the Greens and by the extremist company they keep is becoming visible to the Australian voter. Recently we saw photos in The Australian of senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Scott Ludlam addressing anti-Israel rallies. Bob Brown refused to support a resolution denouncing a Marrickville Council boycott of any academic, government, sporting and cultural exchanges with Israel. And finally, recently Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon during an anti-Israel rally, accused Israel of crimes against humanity.

Rhiannon took the same platform at the rally as Taj Din al-Hilali, the same sheik who referred to women as "uncovered meat" and declared Israel a terrorist state. At all the rallies attended by the Greens there has been a large number of blatantly crude anti-Semitic placards and banners displayed along with Hezbollah flags on show.  The Greens are morphing into reds and have become the Socialist Alliance, the One Nation of the Left.

Both the far Right and the far Left hold policies that are anti-Israel.

And it is too late for Bob Brown to be able to distance himself from the comments and actions of his colleagues.

The Labor government is facing the same problem the Nationals faced in 1998 when One Nation tried to take their ground.  Does Labor fight its way out of this by severing ties with the Greens, refusing to exchange preferences with them, refusing to buy them off with legislation that walks away from indigenous people, that sells off blue-collar workers?  Or does Labor go for business as usual?

In 1998 the National Party took the right decision and exposed extremism. It fought back against One Nation, a party that had nothing to offer but an association with the most extreme groups and a raft of policies that couldn't be explained, coupled with a list of conspiracy theories. In the 2001 Queensland election the Labor Party gained 22 seats. I told the president of the Queensland National Party that I was not prepared to fight the next federal election as the National Party candidate if we were to give our preferences to One Nation.

People who thought Pauline Hanson had the answers were eroding our vote and people who opposed One Nation were deserting us because of our preference deals with One Nation. That will happen to Labor. In the end the Nationals took a stand and fought for the conservative ground we held.

Labor has signed an agreement to govern with the Greens. They have become joint venture partners. But this partnership comes at a price, and the far Left in the present Greens is managing to weaken Labor. In contrast, the far Right in the past failed to influence the Nationals. Labor Party members will tell you they don't have to put up with the crazy Left at their branch meetings any more; they have joined the Greens. But the Greens are putting much more pressure on Labor. They are demanding much more, forcing Labor to abandon its traditional base.

Already the Labor Party's primary vote is down to 34 per cent. Labor is bleeding blue-collar voters to the Right and progressive voters to the Left. What started with senator Graham Richardson, in the 1987 election campaign, harvesting Green preferences with the closure of the north Queensland timber industry, has turned into a monster.

Recently a number of Green MPs signed a petition inviting Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez to visit Australia stating, "We feel that our shared ideals on social justice and democracy bring us closer together and Chavez's rule in Venezuela would be a source of inspiration and ideas for many Australians." Yet, Chavez is a well-known despot who has banned media outlets who are against him. Former and present members and councillors who signed the invitation include Deb Foskey, Greens MLA ACT, Ian Cohen, Greens MLC NSW, Kerry Nettle, then a Greens federal senator, Greens Leichhardt councillor Michele McKenzie and Sylvia Hale, Greens MLC NSW.

How many people who voted for the Greens at the last elections believed they were a benign environmental party, an alternative to the major parties? If they had known they were an extreme Left party that accuses Israel of crimes against humanity, invites a Venezuelan dictator to visit Australia and endorses the views of an extremist Islamic sheik, would they have voted differently?  The PM recently tried to distance herself from the Greens declaring they were a protest party and they would never embrace the values of Australia.

That is a mere slap on the wrists, it's not enough. The PM has to condemn these policies and both publicly and politically sever ties with the Greens.  However, Labor continues to push Green policies that hijack Aboriginal land under Wild Rivers legislation and the premature closing of sand mines on Stradbroke Island where 50 indigenous families will lose their livelihoods. The events of recent weeks and the admission of two former Greens founders that the party has moved to the extreme Left makes it clear: Labor should not govern with an extreme group on its side.

But will Labor have the courage to dissociate itself from the Greens and not to exchange preferences? It should because it is only the Left who can effectively attack the Left. Or will Labor go back to business as usual and face a slow decline on votes and become even more reliant on Green preferences. One thing is certain: we are no longer dealing with people who dress up in koala suits and claim to be friends of the forests.