Comment on Australia 2025 – Wrap-up of the night
Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 3 weeks agoThis is slightly wrong. Just about everything the Government does has to pass both houses, so in a way minority government is the norm for Australia because its quite rare that a sitting government gets an outright majority in both houses.
In this cases it looks like its going to be the same, majority in lower house, minority in upper house.
The thing that undermines the bargaining power of a crossbench is when the two majors team up to pass legislation, which happens often enough. Afterall we don’t want an opposition that simply opposes everything because they’re the opposition.
So the crossbench, i think in this case the key players will be the Greens, have to have a strategy but be able to change their tactics as the Parliament progresses. Their failure to not get a deal from Labor last year on housing, and subsequent inability to find a path to back down for so long, and also the lib-lab team up on electoral and funding reform early this year, showws me they haven’t mastered parliamentary tactics yet.
Viewing it from the Party of Governments perspective, i think, is easier. Its not a cross-bench they’re dealing with, its two or more paths to passing legislation thpugh both houses.
Since Labor is in power, they have the option to attempt legislation with Liberal support, or Greens support. This is where the Greens need to step up, Labor will go with the Liberals if they’re the easier party to deal with on legislation, Greens should aim to be the Partner of choice for the Government this term, this can keep legislation primarily on the progressive side of the ledger.
maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
How do you suggest The Greens step up?
Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Well, i kind of said in my comment before, they made a tactical mistake last year by failingvto give themselves a way to back down from their housing policy blockage.
Their strategy, ‘to push for ever greater housing reform’ was popular, and they managed to deliver a win for themselves the first time round by securing, was it extra HAFF funding? But the second time round they didn’t have a plan b when Labor didn’t play along, that was a mistake.
So my point was they need to be more alive to the Parliamentary games they need to play.
Its a sign of their importance and success that this is now needs to be a consideration.
Next time housing comes up, they need to setvup their debate with possible off ramps, where they can still claim some success and not lead to a months long stand off, or worse cede the legislative ground to a Liberal preferred option, which tends to be bad for the Greens stated policy directions.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
???
But the Greens did pass Labor’s housing policy. After forcing Labor to improve it, and refusing to back down after Labor tried to play games by agreeing to improve it but then reintroducing the unimproved version in Parliament.
The Greens’ only failure is one of PR. That Labor supporters have been so successful in their lies that even people on left-leaning Lemmy believe them. I’m not sure what actions the Greens need to take to counter this very effective PR, because it almost feels like people want to believe it.
Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
I don’t think theres need for a conspiracy here Zag, if i’ve forgotten a concession the Greens managed to get in the Bill that went through around November time, thats just my poor memory. My bad.
As such i’d still call it a pyrrhic victory due to the amount of time wasted on a key issue the electorate wants action on.