Being in favour of pristine rivers, The Boss applauded when Bob Brown succeeded in halting the damming of the Franklin River, in south-west Tasmania, some 40 years ago.
Bob went on to lead the emerging Greens party, and his passionate advocacy for the environment won him many supporters. The Boss and I reckon a healthy planet is worth sticking up for – moreso with the looming challenge of climate change.
Since then, though, Bob’s party has strayed from its grounding idea. It’s official platform says it stands for four key principles: ecological sustainability, grassroots democracy, social justice and peace and non-violence. That’s what it says.
Of course, a wise dog watches what humans do, more than what they say. The Boss drew me to the telly recently when he saw Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather speaking at the Brisbane rally supporting the CFMEU – straight after the union’s widespread corruption and links to criminal gangs had been aired in parliament.
When the Greens refused to support Labor’s legislation to force the union into administration, a simple hound could surmise that union donations can divert one’s gaze from intimidation and criminal links.
Then, when federal Greens leader Adam Bandt was at the National Press Club the other day, he sounded more like Donald Trump than Bob Brown, claiming the economy was “rigged.”
He said “politics as usual” is rigged. Housing is rigged. The economy has been rigged by Liberal and Labor politicians. It’s rigged by design, he said.
“Millions of people are being robbed, fleeced and plundered by big corporations and billionaires in a heist facilitated and enabled by the politicians from Labor and the Liberals. You’re being ripped off at the supermarket, ripped off on your power bill, and ripped off on your mortgage.”
This smelled to me like the same politics of grievance that has worked so well for The Donald – Mr Bandt must have figured that populist language is an easier way to win a spot in a minority government than proposing workable solutions.
Then he attacked both Labor and the Liberals, saying they “have not done anything to prevent” a genocide committed by Israel.
The Boss deplores the unacceptable humanitarian disaster in Gaza, but insists “genocide” – the deliberate killing of a race or ethnic group with the intention of obliterating them - it is not. The Jews and Rwanda’s Tutsi know what genocide looks like.
In Hamas, the Israelis are pursuing an enemy that hides among school children and hospital patients - an enemy that has plundered the billions of aid to help Palestinians in Gaza build a future, using it to buy weapons, build tunnels and pursue a lethal agenda.
The Boss thinks the failure of the Greens to condemn the October 7 attacks is a disgrace. The cruel maiming of babies and brutal dismembering of women’s bodies, together with the kidnappings and subsequent murder of hostages is the work of monsters. It cannot possibly be justified…. even if you’re chasing Muslim votes. Bathing in the ugly whiff of antisemitism, the Greens now find themselves in the same boat as the extreme right.
Meanwhile, our Victorian Greens oppose the state government's efforts to enhance our Goulburn River and its environs through judicious use of environmental water and achieve a balance for Victorian communities. Detailed policy choices are too complex and hard work. Needless to say, they’re never out here helping me and The Boss collect the rubbish!
As The Boss puts it, the Greens have lost sight of their moral compass. Woof!