The place of nature? Electoral politics and the Tasmanian Greens

Abstract

Green politics in Tasmania is very much a politics of place, driven by struggles to save iconic natural areas such as Lake Pedder, the Franklin River, the South West wilderness and more recently the state’s old growth forests and unprotected areas. These struggles have inspired a green politics that is historic, in the sense of inspiring the formation of the world’s first green party, and distinctive for the growing and consolidating of green parliamentary representation. Whilst the rest of the world may be attempting to explain the waxing and waning of green parliamentary politics, in Tasmania the questions that need answers are: why does green parliamentary representation persist and has it reached its limits. This paper focuses on the trajectory of Tasmania’s parliamentary greening, rather than on the green movement’s broader characteristics, disputes and groups. It is a study of recent electoral efforts by the Tasmanian Greens and the counter efforts of anti-green forces. It focuses on the state election in 2006, and argues that there are very clear limits to the place of nature within the state parliament. Whilst the Greens are old hands at gaining parliamentary advantage, in the 2006 election opposing forces used effective tactics to constrain their further success.