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The Australian Greens is the national Greens party in Australia. It was formed as a coalition of the various state Greens parties, although the Greens (Western Australia) preserved a separate identity for some time. At the federal level there are two Greens in the Australian Senate (Senators Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle), and in July 2005 they will be joined by Senators-elect Christine Milne from Tasmania and Rachel Siewert from Western Australia. There was one MP in the Australian House of Representatives ( Michael Organ), who was elected at a by-election in 2002, but he lost his seat at the 2004 elections. The Australian Greens do not have a formal leadership, but Senator Brown of Tasmania is treated in the media as the party's leader.
Currently there are Green members in the parliaments of Western Australia (5), Tasmania (4), New South WalesNew South Wales NSW is Australia's most populous and oldest state, located in the southeast, north of Victoria. It was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland. During the 19th century large areas were successively separate (2), the Australian Capital TerritoryAustralian Capital Territory ACT , chiefly the site of Canberra (population 309,500 as at 16/10/2004), Australia's capital city, is situated between the country's two largest and rival cities, Melbourne and Sydney. Description The ACT is wholly surrounded (2) and South AustraliaSouth Australia State flag ( In detail) Coat of Arms ( In detail) Capital Adelaide Governor HE Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Premier Mike Rann Area — Land — Marine — Total 983 482 km˛ 60 032 km˛ 1 043 514 km˛ Population (2002) Density 1 522 500 1. 55/km˛ Time z (1). The Greens have gained some support since 20012001 is a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and also: The International Year of the Volunteer The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations Events January January 1 A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall ap at the expense of the Australian DemocratsThe Australian Democrats (in regular parlance, just the Democrats , is an Australian social liberal party formed in 1977 from the earlier Australia Party by Don Chipp, who left the Liberal Party of Australia to do so. His stated aim was to "Keep the Basta and to some extent the Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party or ALP is Australia's oldest political party. It is so-named because of its origins in and close links to the trade union movement. While Australians normally spell Labour with an "-our" ending, in the name of the party it is sp.
On 23 October 2003 Brown and Nettle were suspended from the Parliament for 24 hours when they both seperately interjected during an address by the visiting President of the United States, George W. Bush.
Although the Greens see themselves as representing a "new politics" which is distinct from the traditional categories of "left" and "right", they are seen by many Australians as a "left-wing" or radical party, and have become the party which attracts most of the left-wing vote. At the 2001 federal election, many left-wing supporters of the Australian Labor Party, including many party members, voted for the Greens as a protest against their own party's policies on asylum seekers. In the 2004 Federal election the Greens' primary vote rose by around 2%, to an average of around 7%. This won them two additional Senate seats, but the success of the Howard government in winning a majority in the Senate meant that the Greens' influence on legislation would actually decrease.
