Greenwash Political Action Party and Urban Grassroots Movement for the Green Party

March 29, 2006

The sweetest victory of all - Greens hold all 4 seats in Tasmania

They said it couldn’t happen. They said the Greens couldn’t win the Tasmanian seat of Bass and that the Greens candidate Kim Booth was gone for all money. Some political pundits in the tally room on election night wrote him off as early as 8pm.

And of course during his concession speech Liberal Leader Rene Hidding declared - now infamously - that the Greens had only won two seats.

But late this afternoon with the count nearing completion, it looks like Greens saw miller Kim Booth will be elected after he beat off a challenge from the third ALP candidate.

At no stage in the count has The Mercury given him a chance - as recently as today saying he wouldn’t win. The Age newspaper also had a go - saying we were suffering ‘winter blues’ and had been ‘swept aside’ . The fiercely anti-Green Examiner hometown newspaper said we wouldn’t win either.

And of course the Greens hater from the ABC Antony Green wrote us off more than once. Here is what he said just the other day on http://www.upperhouse.info/ - "Bass has tightened on paper, but Labor is still on track to win. With the exclusion of Les Rochester, the party totals are now Labor 2.96, Liberal 2.12, Greens 0.91. The 2nd Green candidate is the next out, and any leakage of preferences will doom the chances of Kim Booth being elected."

I can’t remember how many people told me on the tally room that Kim was gone or how many journalists I told that it would be close and we wouldn’t know until the final cut up of preferences.

So despite the unprecedented scare campaign involving hundreds of thousands of dollars from big business, the Exclusive Brethren and the major parties, the Greens have shone through to hold all 4 seats.

Lots of humble pie about to be eaten I reckon.

posted by Ben Oquist # 2:43 PM