European Greens congratulate Australian Greens for good election result:
The Spokespersons of the European Green Party today congratulated the Australian Greens for achieving an excellent result in the country's Federal Election held on Saturday 24th November. Although final results have yet to be confirmed, it seems likely that the Australian Greens will increase their number of senators from 4 to 5 (and possibly even 6 or 7) and they have achieved a national vote of 7.6% (a swing of 0.4%).The Greens' vote in the Senate has exceeded one million which is a record for the party. Unfortunately, the Greens were not able to have any candidates elected to the House of Representatives.
EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek said: "This is a great result for the Australian Green Party and, on behalf of all Greens in Europe, I would like to send my warmest congratulations to the leader of the Parliamentary Party, Senator Bob Brown, the four winning candidates who will join him in the Senate and Green Party activists across Australia. The Green vote was particularly important in this election as it appears that Green preference votes played a crucial role in key marginal constituencies and that the Labor party's victory against the incumbent Prime Minister John Howard would not have been so decisive without the Green vote. That is why we share Bob Brown's disappointment that Kevin Rudd, the Labor Party's leader and Prime Minister-elect, has not yet acknowledged his debt to Green voters."
EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe Lamberts continued: "Environmental issues were hugely important in this election and we hope that the new government recognises this and reflects a commitment to environmental protection in all the policies it implements. In particular we welcome the fact that the new government has said that one of its top priorities will be ratifying the Kyoto treaty (something John Howard shamefully failed to do) and seeking an agreement on a successor to Kyoto, starting with its participation in the UN Climate Conference in Bali next month. Another key issue that the Greens campaigned on in this election was a controversial plan to build a pulp mill in northern Tasmania. The Greens had their best ever result in Tasmania (Senator Bob Brown won his seat in his own right without needing preference votes for the first time) and we very much hope that this sends a powerful signal to the new government that they must not give permission for this environmentally destructive pulp mill as it is not wanted by the people of Tasmania or Australia generally. We hope that the Greens' increased presence in Senate will enable them to further their agenda of tackling climate change, increasing pensions and working for reconciliation with indigenous Australians, including recognising their importance in the constitution and improving their health. Another key priority for the Greens is campaigning for electoral reform to make the electoral system fairer. It is possible that the Greens will hold or share the balance of power in the Senate and we very much hope this is the case as it would considerably increase the Greens' political leverage."
