Charles Richardson gets one thing a bit wrong in his analysis of the
Tasmanian three-party system. It is not just the Greens that could win
balance of power. If no party wins a majority it will mean that each of
the three parties will be in “balance of power”. The Liberals could
join with Labor to pass legislation, as could the Greens.

The
massive advertising blitz being funded by big business and the woodchipping
industry against “minority Government” is actually nothing of the sort. It is a campaign against the Greens.

During
the final weekend of the campaign every single ad break on evening commercial TV
featured attack ads on the Greens and “minority government” (often more than one
such spot in each break).

It is
not just the Exclusive Brethren (Crikey yesterday) funding advertising
targeting the Greens. On top of the Labor and Liberals anti-Green
material there is the forest industry’s mega bucks and huge spend from the
shadowy big business group Tasmanians for a Better Future
.

Every day, new full page advertisements appear in the paper. (Today’s Examiner ad is reproduced below.)

Has an
election in Australia ever seen such a negative advertising blitz from so many
sources directed at one party?

PS: This is not the first time that the
Exclusive Brethren has entered into the electoral fray against the Greens. Tasmanian Liberals’ state director, Damien Mantach met with them and then admitted that the Liberals in NSW
had a financial arrangement with the Brethren when targeting the Greens in the
2004 federal poll in NSW. Then there was their controversial
anti-Greens campaign in NZ least year
.