Australian Greens Victoria

Infobox_Australian_Political_Party
party_name = Victorian Greens
party_
party_wikicolourid = Greens
convenor = [http://vic.greens.org.au/content/about-the-greens/contacts/ Sue Pennicuik] ¹
leader = No official leader¹
foundation = 1992
ideology = green politics
headquarters = 1st floor,
377 Little Bourke St)
MELBOURNE VIC 3001
(GPO Box 4589)
holds_government = Nowhere
website = [http://vic.greens.org.au Victorian Greens]
international = Global Greens
Asia-Pacific Green Network

Australian Greens Victoria, also called the Victorian Greens, is a Green Party located in Victoria, a member of the federation of the Australian Greens party.

Electoral history

The first election the Greens contested in Victoria was for the seat of La Trobe in the 1993 federal election. In 1994 The Greens achieved by-election results of 21% in the state seat of Coburg and 28% in the federal division of Kooyong, extraordinarily high results for a minor party in Australian history.

Greens in Local Government

In March 1999 barrister David Risstrom was elected to the Melbourne City Council, following numerous local government campaigns in Victoria. Risstrom was re-elected in 2001 and retired in 2004 in order to contest the Senate in the Australian national elections of that year. Fraser Brindley, previously elected to Moreland City Council as a Greens representative in 2002, ran successfully for Melbourne City Council in 2004.

The first Greens candidate in Australia to be elected in a single-member electorate was Gurm Sekhon, elected to Yarra City Council in 2001. In 2002 Sekhon was re-elected and three more Greens were elected to Yarra City Council, giving the Greens 4 out of 9 seats on Council. In 2003 Yarra City Councillor Greg Barber became Australia's first Greens Mayor. Janet Rice was elected to Maribyrnong City Council in 2003 with a primary vote of 42%, thought to be the highest vote for an endorsed Greens candidate anywhere in the world.

In 2005 Janet Rice was re-elected to a second term at Maribyrnong City Council and subsequently became Mayor. David Jones was elected to and became Mayor the City of Greater Bendigo, and a total of 14 Green local government councillors held office across Victoria, in Cities or Shires of Melbourne, Yarra, Maribyrnong, Moreland, Moonee Valley, Yarra Ranges, Whitehorse, Brimbank, Mt Alexander and Greater Bendigo.

In the yearly mayoral elections in 2006, Greater Bendigo Councillors elected back to back Green Mayors by electing Julie Rivendell to succeed David Jones, and Ben Opie was elected as Moonee Valley's first, and Victoria's fifth Green Mayor.

In the Mayoral vote for 2007-8 Bendigo elected Cr David Jones again, making him the First Green Mayor to serve two terms and Bendigo to become the first council in Australia to have three Green Mayors.

It is becoming quite common to find Greens candidates in local government elections across Victoria. The advent of proportional representation is believed to increase the likelihood of Greens getting elected at future elections. Interestingly, however, the majority of past and present Victorian Greens local government councillors were elected prior to the advent of proportional representation at their councils. Gurm Sekhon (Yarra CC 2001), Jenny Farrar (Yarra CC 2002), Fraser Brindley (Moreland CC 2002), Colleen Hartland (Maribyrnong CC 2003), Janet Rice (Maribyrnong CC 2003), Ben Opie (Moonee Valley CC 2005), Julie Rivendell (Greater Bendigo CC 2005), David Jones (Greater Bendigo CC 2005) and Samantha Dunn (Yarra Ranges SC 2005) were all elected to single-Councillor vacancies requiring a majority of votes across their wards.

State Elections

Three Greens representatives were elected to the Victorian Legislative Council at the 2006 state election. Greg Barber won a seat in the Northern Metropolitan Region, Colleen Hartland won a seat in the Western Metropolitan Region after a recount, and Sue Pennicuik won a seat in the Southern Metropolitan Region.

Minor parties have had little or no success in state lower houses that have single-member electorates, though in other states where there are multiple-member electorates in the lower house (such as Tasmania's or the ACT's), or where there are multiple-member electorate/s in the upper house (such as in NSW, SA and WA), minor parties including the Greens have been more successful. Up to and including the 2002 state election, Victoria's upper house has had double-member electorates, though, for the first time in the 2006 state election, Victoria's upper house had 8 electorates of 5 members each.

In the lower house, Greens candidates were second in four two-party-preferred races in inner-city seats at the 2002 and 2006 state elections, three of which are now marginal seats (that is, they require less than a 5% swing to change hands). Dr Richard DiNatale came within 2% of winning Melbourne from Labor cabinet minister Bronwyn Pike [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/seats-to-watch/2006/11/06/1162661617891.html] in 2002 and 2006.

Federal Elections

Ethicist and animal liberation activist Peter Singer was the lead candidate for the Victorian Greens during the 1996 Federal election, in which the Greens polled a total of 1.90% in the House of Representatives and 2.94% in the Senate. Since then the Victorian Greens' vote has grown with 8.17% of the vote in the lower house at the 2007 Federal election. [see [http://results.aec.gov.au/13745/website/HouseResultsMenu-13745.htm the AEC's results page] ]

David Risstrom left the MCC to contest a Victorian Senate seat in the 2004 Federal election. He received 8.80% of the primary vote, but was unable to make the quota of 14.3%. Had he received a high preference from the Australian Labor Party, he would have done so, but they instead directed preferences to the Family First Party's Steve Fielding, who was elected with 1.76% of the primary vote.

In 2007 Richard DiNatale ran as the lead Victorian Senate candidate and again the Greens narrowly missed out on a quota, with a Senate vote of 10.08% [see [http://results.aec.gov.au/13745/website/SenateResultsMenu-13745.htm the AEC's Senate results page] ]

The 2007 election also saw an historic result in the Division of Melbourne, where Greens candidate Adam Bandt won 22.8% of the primary vote and came second on a two party preferred basis, with 45.29% of the 2PP vote [see the [http://results.aec.gov.au/13745/website/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-13745-228.htm AEC's Melbourne results] ] - the highest result ever for the Australian Greens in any seat at a Federal general election. Melbourne, traditionally one of the safest Labor seats in the country, is now officially a marginal seat. [ [http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/m/Melbourne.htm AEC Divisional Profile] ] ________________

Notes

¹The Victorian Greens do not formally have a leader.

External links

* [http://vic.greens.org.au Victorian Greens website]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/victoria-votes/the-green-agenda/2006/11/09/1162661832157.html The Green Agenda, "The Age", 9 November 2006]