Another silly tirade from Christian Kerr against the Greens yesterday. And this one sillier than most, with the imputation that the Greens are somehow slackers when it comes to parliament. Obviously Mr Kerr doesn’t spend any time watching the chamber himself.

The Greens punched well above their weight in the first session of the new Senate despite the fact that two of the Greens Senators were having their very first days in the parliament. A quick search of the Hansard reveals 45 mentions for the Australian Greens Senators in the first two weeks.

This compares very favourably with the 20 mentions for the five National Party Senators or even the 137 mentions for the 34 Liberal Senators. I make that an average strike rate for the Greens of 11.25 per Senator and just over four for the Liberals and the Nationals. On this index the Democrats were on top with the ALP a solid 3rd behind the Greens.

You may not agree with the Greens alternative, progressive agenda, but to imply we are not hard workers is just dumb.