When I arrived to meet the leader of the federal Greens, Adam Bandt, he was sitting quietly by himself at The Other Joint cafe in Mullumbimby.
It was a surprise, given political leaders are always chaperoned by minders and advisers.
So without their annoying distractions, we chatted informally over the state of Australia’s future and what the Greens hope to achieve with the upcoming 2025 election.
Bandt appears more of a quiet policy nerd than a big personality type sustaining their ego through adulation and attention. Typically, the latter inhabit politics, which is unfortunate given their tendency for shallowness and sociopathic behaviour.
Google it, mate
Remember ‘Google it, mate’? Bandt grabbed the headlines in 2022 at his National Press Club address after some young journo hack tried to entrap him on what the WPI (Wage Price Index) was.
Bandt then went on to describe, firstly, how poorly the media inform the electorate with their ‘gotcha moments’, and secondly, the failure of the two party system.
While all that was refreshing, I could see early on in our conversation that I was dealing with a seasoned politician used to trotting out their talking points.
Perhaps my questions were too predictable? Maybe I was underprepared?
The Greens leader effortlessly batted back the accusations of lunatic group, Advance Australia (AA), who have declared war on the party via www.greenstruth.com.au.
AA were behind the ‘No’ referendum vote, and say the Greens are a threat to their Christian Judaic values.
They also admit the Greens are the only political party with any brand recognition.
Bandt says, ‘[former PM Tony] Abbott is involved with Advance, along with billionaires who don’t want any tax reform. It’s a badge of honour that AA are coming after us, and not Labor’.
‘We will be running positive messages, not negative’.
‘One in three corporations pay no income tax. We are pushing for what we call “Robin Hood tax reform”, whereby those taxes will help pay for dental for all, for example. We managed to get dental included on Medicare for children, and this is the next step’.
So taxing the uber-wealthy is again a main focus of their upcoming campaign, along with housing, health, environment and action on climate change.
He says, ‘The federal seat of Richmond [Ballina, Byron and Tweed Shires] has had the same Labor MP for 20 years and has the least affordable rental housing in the country’.
Housing focus
So what about immigration? Should that be cut back to allow housing supply to catch up to demand?
‘It’s not the problem’, he says. ‘It’s the tax breaks for the rich. It’s negative gearing and the capital gains discount’.
So the Greens’ answer, it seems, is building more social housing, which focuses on housing those who have been left behind.
Yet as most know, Byron Shire and the north coast has a lot of constrained land – much is fire- and flood-prone, too hilly, is of high agriculture value or is protected owing to its unique biodiversity.
When that is mentioned, Bandt seems unperturbed – he replies that he has spent time identifying government- owned lands in the region and ‘wants to turbocharge’ development.
‘One third of the country rents’, he says, ‘and we are the only party with a rental policy’.
Two types of coal
Moving on, another policy plank of the Greens is winding back coal and gas, because of erm, the impending collapse of a regular, predictable atmosphere that we all enjoy.
‘Emissions are higher under Labor than they were under the Liberal-Nationals’, he quips. ‘Labor has approved 28 new gas projects – there is an apology needed’.
Ok, so what about metallurgical ‘coking coal’ (anthracite), which is used in steel production? Most people think of bituminous coal, which is lower grade and primarily used for electricity generation.
Bandt seems to agree that steel production, which is a carbon-intensive sector, is a necessary part of civilisation, and even suggests ‘green steel’ and ‘green hydrogen’ as a potential to replace the old.
Yet like small modular nuclear reactors, there is no working ‘green steel’ model in operation.
‘Most coal and gas is sent overseas’, he says. ‘We need to look after coal and gas workers with secure wages and jobs. We have a fully-costed transition plan’.
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