Peter Garrett, Environmentalists in the ALP

In a light-weight story comparing Peter Garrett and Missy Higgins, Rocking the green boat, by Tim Kroenert in the ABC's online Opinion section [Posted Thu Nov 22, 2007 9:07am], the comments section was ablaze with dozens of polarised responses.

I read all of the responses, and I discovered that every single one of the "anti-Garrett" comments was not only cynical, but also grossly ill-informed. It is so easy to take someone down, but oh so much harder to actually affect change in this world.


Peter Garrett's incredible opportunity to make a difference

In the last State-level election here in our seat of Northcote the local Labor thugs doctored a letter of support that Peter Garrett wrote for the Labor candidate (Fiona Richardson), and bulk-mailed the doctored letter to every single person on the electoral role. They added words like “a vote for the Greens could help the Liberals get elected in Victoria” into Peter Garrett’s letter.

Whilst being unquestionably untrue, it had the intended effect and certainly lowered the Greens vote in the electorate of Northcote by quite a few percent. Quite a few friends and neighbours asked me about it, and told me that, as a result of the letter that they had received "from Peter Garrett", they had voted ALP instead of Greens, “just in case”.

A year later now and they are still worried about this issue, although I think that I’ve reassured them. I know for sure that a large proportion of such singing voters (the Greens < -- > Labor kind) in the Northern half of this electorate of Batman who don’t have someone to reassure them will still have voted ALP at this November 2007 federal election

Peter Garrett is the most heroic of environmentalists to have joined the ALP so that he can work for change from inside the system. You’d have to have a very tough skin to join the ALP now if you were a committed environmentalist. There are still plenty of inner-city greenies in the ALP. They're now in their fifties. These are the people who started CERES, pioneered indigenous revegetation of waterways in Australia (ie. Merri Creek), saved Brunswick North West Primary School from being closed (the greenest primary school in Victoria), stopped freeways, saved parks and heritage buildings, got bike tracks built, started Green Jobs schemes and got a whole lot of National Parks declared.

But alas, I can’t join the ALP as I don’t have the stomach for it, a decision confirmed for me when I ran for local Council for the Greens. Some of the local Labor apparatchiks with whom I’m friendly committed appalling acts of deceit and illegal dirty tricks directly against me; “just playing the game, mate”, they told me.

I’m a gentle type, and the Greens are my tribe; thus, I perpetuate the stereotype.