ALP bites Greens.

The Bracks ALP state government is accusing the Greens of:
* hypocrisy
* trying to help the Liberals win government
* the Greens had moved closer to the Liberals
* it's a natural coalition of convenience but there is extraordinary hypocrisy
* the state Greens and state Liberals are tactically planning every single step in Parliament
* they work in total tandem, they operate together
* they are as tight a coalition in Parliament as the federal Liberal and National Party coalition are in Government
* the Greens were attempting to weaken Labor to win seats from them at the next election
* the hypocrisy of this is they make it more likely to have Liberal governments

Labor's leader in the upper house, John Lenders, said that on every vote where the two major parties had split in the Parliament, the Greens had supported the Liberals.

He said the parties were on different ends of the political spectrum and it would be like Labor having an alliance with One Nation.

Sounds nasty.

But Greens MP Greg Barber said the Greens were only doing what people had
elected them for.

"The Greens platform at the last election, above all else really, was to make the Parliament work, to give it the tools to do its job," he said. "That's what we've been doing, pretty successfully, and the Government doesn't like it."

Mr Barber defended the Greens' ability to work with the Liberals. "What he (Mr Lenders) is saying is 'if you are not with us, you're against us'. Where have I heard that before?" he said.

The Greens were only trying to give Victoria "the most open and accountable Parliament there is", he said.

Mr Barber said that when Parliament resumed, the Greens would push to make key parliamentary committees more independent and give the Parliament more power to demand documents from the Government.

Greens count the gains

Victorian Greens MP Greg Barber says his party's achievements within the first three weeks of Parliament include:

■ Reforming question time.
■ Establishing a gambling inquiry.
■ Allowing more time for private member's bills and debates.
■ Allowing equal speaking rights for all parties and members.
■ Proposed donation law reform.

From what I’ve seen, the Greens haven’t strayed from the goals stated in their election campaign. “Mr Barber also vowed to pursue the continuous reform of Parliament… But it was on poker machines that Mr Barber indicated the Greens would push the Government hard.” - from Greg Barber's maiden speech.

That’s not hypocritical, that’s doing exactly what they said they would. Increasing accountability and transparency, establishing a gambling inquiry isn't going to damage a decent government.

*ahem*