The Greens are hoping to make political history by winning two Senate seats in Tasmania at the federal election on May 3, with their campaign putting environmental issues front and centre.
Tasmanian Greens Senator Nick McKim on Friday declared the party could achieve the unprecedented result.
“If one in 20 people in the Senate changed their votes to the Greens in this election, we win two Senate seats. That is absolutely achievable,” he said.
“That would shake the foundations of Australian politics to its very core and would put the most massive message into the inbox of the old-style parties who are not just abandoning nature, who are not just failing to take strong enough climate action, but who are not doing enough to help ordinary people here getting smashed by the cost of living crisis.”
The Greens’ campaign launch comes as environmental issues heat up in Tasmania, with Senator McKim pointing to recent bipartisan changes to environmental laws that support the salmon farming industry as a major motivator for their base.
“What we’ve seen in the last week is Labor working with the Liberals to smash our environment laws in Australia,” he said.
“The corporations are running the Labor and Liberal parties but they’re not running the Greens.”
“Labor came to power promising to strengthen our environment laws. They’re leaving three full years in government with environment laws weaker than when Labor came to power.”
McKim said the Greens are positioning themselves as kingmakers in a potential hung parliament, with McKim promising to “keep Peter Dutton out” if they secure the balance of power.
The party also believes Labor will pay a political price in Tasmania over its handling of environmental issues, particularly its support for industrial salmon farming.
“Labor is going to get smashed at the ballot box in Tasmania because they have failed to stand up for our environment and they have gone in the bat for the corporate profits of industrial salmon farmers,” he said.
“We’re here to make the big corporations pay their fair share of tax so we can actually make people’s lives better by putting dental into Medicare, by wiping student debt, by freezing rents.”
“We’ve got a big, bold, progressive policy agenda. We will stand up to big corporates who are destroying our forests and our marine environment and we are here to make Australian political history.”
