A New Era for NSW Greens

By Roger Hanney

Federally, a coherent Green crossbench won’t be sworn into the Senate for another nine months. But the election had immediate impact on New South Wales’ parliament in the first week of September, delivering a new generation of Green politics for the state.

Longtime Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon vacated her seat to successfully run for the Federal Senate, with Cate Faehrmann preselected to replace her. Meanwhile, Sylvia Hale resigned her seat to make way for David Shoebridge. Hale believed it best for Shoebridge to have time learning the ropes at a state level before next year’s state election delivers a new government and the likelihood of increased responsibilities for Green parliamentarians.

Both Rhiannon and Hale have been vigorous campaigners for social and environmental justice in their respective eleven and seven years of state. Rhiannon will now prepare for her new federal role, while Hale – freshly retired – has just returned from Gaza and the West Bank to address interested Sydney community groups.

Shoebridge is a second term councillor for the Woollahra municipality and a barrister specializing in industrial and employment law. He will see out his municipal term rather than forcing an expensive early by-election. Colleagues say that Shoebridge’s decisive political moment was in 2001, when the State Labor Government legislated to cut worker’s compensation. Labor politicians had to cross a picket line to get into parliament.

The only politicians welcomed by the picket that day were Lee Rhiannon and Ian Cohen, because they were voting against the cuts. The only exception within the new laws was to be for firemen. On the floor of parliament, Rhiannon unsuccessfully moved an amendment that, for the purposes of the legislation, all workers in NSW be designated as firemen. Impressed by her passion and creative intelligence, Shoebridge joined the Greens shortly after.

Faehrmann is former Executive Director of the NSW Nature Conservation Council, as well as a former board member of public activist group GetUp. Faehrmann’s priorities are “the protection of threatened ecosystems, making our cities and communities more sustainable, and driving action on climate change.”

Practically, she will begin addressing the chronic issue of public transport through a series of public meetings over the coming months. Equally high on her agenda is the mismanagement of dwindling water and agricultural resources, especially where controversially proposed mining activities threaten to shatter the nation’s food bowl in the Hunter Valley.

According to another Greens NSW MP, Dr John Kaye, the March 2011 state election may well mirror the recent federal outcome. “We have an excellent chance of emerging from the election with the balance of power in the Upper House and a presence in the Lower House.”