Structure and Key Challenges of Australian Green Party - Case Study Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxx Title : Australian Greens Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Australian Greens Introduction Australia Green Party was established in 1992. Nevertheless, it originated from environmental movement in Australia as well as from the United Tasmania Group, which was the primary Green party worldwide and it initially presented its candidates for elections in 1972 Tasmania state election. Harmonization among the green groups reached its peak in 1980s where several environmental protests consisting of even the most significant environmental campaigns within Australia which was against the damming of the Franklin River as well as the ensuing flooding of Lake Pedder. The main individuals who participated in these campaigns include the present leader Bob Brown and Christine Millie who ran and won seats within Tasmanian Parliament and in due course formed the Tasmanian Greens. By using national organization and memberships, the Green party has developed fast in power in addition to the coverage. The policies of the party have widened from dealing with environment to policies tackling philosophies of democracy at the proletariat, social justice, preservation and also peace movement (Ian 2007). Currently, Australian Green party has 5 senators, where 9 will also be in the senate from 1st July 2001 and one member in the minor house of the parliament. The party also has twenty two elected representatives within State and Territory Parliament and more than hundred councilors and about ten thousand party members. During the federal election that took place in 2010, the Green party got around 13% of the vote within the Senate, which was a rise of about 4%. The Green party gained a seat in each state, which gave the party a total of 9 senators as from July 2011. With this, the party will be able to have a sole power balance within the Senate. The party also effectively won their first House of Representatives seat during the general election, which was the seat of Melbourne with contestant Adam Bandt who happens to be the first crossbencher in the first hung parliament from the 1940 federal election (Ian 2007). Australian Green party structure The party is federally organized with independently indexed state parties answering to a national constitution, but still maintaining substantial policy-making and organizational independency from the core center. The national body responsible for making decisions within the party is the National Council and it includes delegates from every body which is a state Green party. The National Council reaches its final decisions through consensus and there is no official supervisory of the national party. Nonetheless, there is an Australian Coordinating Group which includes national officers’, consisting of the national Governor, secretary as well as delegates from every state and territory. Furthermore, the party also has a Public Officer, an agent for the party and also a Registered Officer. For sometime, there several Green party MPs have been elected to the lower houses, political alliances assessed and reformed, inclusive of an increasingly self guaranteed and sovereign National party in WA (National Library of Australia 2006). Challenges Currently, it is the third election at Australia after 07. Australian Green party has also landed a draw between traditional power bases with the other political parties. To understand that the party is facing, it is important to look beyond campaign approaches, the party’s policies or the structure of the party. It is not the team; the main challenge is that the political field within Australia is changing around the game (Marsh 2006). Most of the Australians are aware of several acute difficulties facing the political field and they are similarly confused by the results of multitude of new opportunities as well as the solutions that have been availed by the modern world. The atmosphere, climate, population in addition to the society are transforming at an exceptional rate. Technology has joined the world and is opening some channels faster that we can probably take into consideration the moral, ethical, societal as well as environmental outcomes. Standing still for any political party is no longer an alternative (Scott 2005). Key Challenge: Delivering a well articulated change The Australian Green party has been handled an historic prospect. However, the key challenge for the Green party is the similar to the key challenge faced by both Kevin 07 and Julia Gillard. Therefore, the main challenge for the Australian Green party is to maintain the party together as one and under several core issues, explaining the core issues to the electorate and delivering to the Australian’s citizens and keeping the party’s promises to the citizens. With this, the party will avoid the same mistakes that Kevin07 made in order for the Green party to thrive. It will take the Green party substantial strength of character for the party to reach to the new level of power. The Green party will be having a very big pressure from both the media and conservatives, just like Kevin 07 did, and thus the main persuasion will be to give in to their calls to become more “sensible” and “balanced” as well. These are imperative perceptions, but the challenge of progressivism for the party reinterprets these typical principles in favor of the cause (Scott 2005). For instance, it is nothing sensible regarding risking the long-term costs concerning climate change for short term profits. According to science, a stable approach to conservation of marine entails much greater levels of protection than the state have at present. Marriages between gays make some sense. Therefore, the Australian Green party faces the challenge of articulating and explaining the benefits of such changes effectively. If the Green party members begin back tracking rather than arguing their case, they are not going to stay in power for a long time. They are likely to possess power for a short period just like Kevin 07 movement if they backtrack regarding such important changes (Scott 2005). Therefore, as mentioned earlier, the main challenge is obviously progressivism challenge. This is because naturally, individuals support a positive change; after all, people are no longer driven by the political leaders or adoration of the leaders. The change should be well articulated and explained to the political party supporters. If the Greens begin running away from the arguments and therefore the values that made them to be elected, the party is bound to lose and the opponents are likely to win (Verity 2003). Regional Australia requires change in a manner, city does not and conservatives can be progressive too. Apart from the mining centers, regional Australia has other problems like, depopulations, segregation as well as the accompanied services loss. With the scarcity of water, drought in addition to fire, Australian needs climate change. Moreover, farmers have shouldered practically the whole burden of contributing to arriving Australian’s present goals, admittedly principally forced on them by land clearing bans. Technology is the main cause of depopulation since fewer individuals can work more land. And currently, technology is increasingly vital, including handling isolation, augmented automation, conflict regarding the genetically modified crops as well as conflict for land as a result of mining, conservation and expanding urban area. Therefore, the Australian Green party has the challenge of offering well articulated solutions to such regions (R.I.C. Publications 2007). Reason why the challenge is serious The party has a challenge of articulating the need that they are sure the party will handle. For example, Kevin Rudd read the nation’s mood of wanting change but he had no idea where he was going. He sailed through record levels of popularity when he made apologies to the stolen generation and compiled the first draft of Australian’s initial trial regarding all-inclusive climate change legislation. However, he did not succeed. This is because, he did not explain why and the manner in which this climate solution would work, which led Tony Abbot into attacking him negatively and eventually when he backed away from his project, this led to the end of his seat as a prime minister. Backing away from the climate legislation was “the utmost moral challenge” and it is what saw Kevin 07 movement end. The reality that he did not notice this is instructive to what took place after that. In a nutshell, the Green party has the same challenges that Kevin07 had. Secondly, Julia Gillard was handed the government for a second chance and just repeated the same mistake. According to the history, this was supposed to lead to a straight change within the government but is has not. The swing on Saturday never went to conservative but it swung its hardest to the Australian Green party (R.I.C. Publications 2007). The challenge of delivering a well articulated change and not backing away from the initially started project is thus the key challenge for the party. The previous parties apparently did not deliver the promised changes and hence the Australian Green party should ensure the changes they propose are well articulated and rational. With this the party will be able to deliver the proposed changes and hence it will be able to hold on power for a long period (Paul 2008). Recommended solutions The Australian political party’s representatives should agree that there is a call for for the party members to develop technical skills. The skills can be principally developed by supporting and training within areas like leadership, management of the conflicts, fundraising, both organization and mobilization and negotiation, specifically with respect to establishing alliances. The most fundamental solutions include: Gender Gender inequality is still present within the party structure. As a result, a training program has been recommended. It should be developed on gender equality for both females and males. Tackling the unbalanced political participation through promotion of the political inclusion of each and every segment of society is important for the party. Actually, active participation of women at both grassroots and national level, in conventional structures as well as contemporary governance and rule of law bodies, is necessary for promoting the Australian Green party for its reintegration and re-enactment efforts. At this level, the party representatives should establish concerted efforts to raise public awareness of this matter within the party and make sure that both genders are equipped with the required skills, knowledge in addition to competencies that will enable them to substantively participate to a sustainable party and to the party’s development. Establishing and building capacity of both genders especially women and promotion of partnerships amongst men and women will make great contributions to accomplishing the political reform within the party and addressing the current challenges within the party. Moreover, the Australian Green party needs to promote public involvement as well as political accountability, increased representation, involvement and inclusion of women within legislative and constitution structures and their involvement at all decision making levels within the party (Paul 2008). Intra Party Democracy and Inter party relations The intra and inter party conflicts have had a big impact on the Green party since it is an opposition party. Therefore, it is recommended that the party should institutionalize its party’s activities, development of political education program as well as development of a code of conduct for the party. The code of party will be helpful is ensuring that the party members are well behaved and conduct all their activities in an effective way. This will avoid constant conflicts within the party as well as several conflicts with the external parties. Furthermore, this will also be important in making sure that the party candidates conduct themselves in a civilized manner while carrying out their campaigns (Somolekae 2002). Public outreach According to the main challenge facing the Australian Green party, there is a need for the party to form an effective public outreach. As a result, a training program can be developed to address among other things the design of efficient mechanism for recruitment in addition to mobilization. Moreover, since the electoral process is often dependant on the amount of preparations conducted between elections, the party representatives should communicate to the state’s electoral body to develop an easy, user friendly voter education and civic education programs for ran and file members for all the parties. This will be important in making sure that the citizens are well informed regarding the electoral process and hence when it comes to voting they will make an informed decision. The party also needs to fulfill the promises it set for the public and also ensure that it tackles all the problems it set itself to solve once elected by the people (Somolekae 2002). Leadership At times, challenges within the party occur as a result of lacking the visionary leadership within the political party. While it is obvious that leaders are born and not made, the Green party can improve a lot in regard to enhancement of the party’s representatives inherent leadership skills. Such representatives as well as the party’s candidates can learn through programs regarding leadership skills, organizational management skills, capacity building skills as well as project management skills. Such skills will enable the Australian Green party’s leaders to have the necessary skills to tackle any challenge that might crop in within the party. It is also helpful in ensuring that the candidates that the party presents for election are efficient and have the best leadership skills and hence will present the best interests of both the society and the party. This will also instill a lot of confidence to the society regarding the party. Moreover, this will also be important because the leaders will conduct its campaigns in an effective manner, they will be able to convince the voters to vote the party since the voters will have the confidence in such efficient leaders. Again, leaders with expertise will be able to work for the society once elected since they have the necessary skills to serve the society (Shale 2007). Conflict management Urgent attention should be given to the conflict that results to crippling most of the parties within Australia. A conflict management program should be developed to assist the party in developing negotiation as well as mediation skills. This will help the party in solving its internal conflicts among the party leaders which might end ruining the party. If conflicts are managed effectively this will ensure the survival and domination of the party within the country (Shale 2007). Conclusion Overall, in uncovering the Australian Green party, understanding of the challenges the party is facing and possible solutions to the key challenge, the party’s management will be able to handle the challenges and manage the party successfully. Additionally, the party also faces other challenges such as party funding, external legal frameworks, which were not handled in this paper but equally impact the political performance of the party. With respect to the governance of the party, Australian Green party needs to have higher internal democracy while selecting the leaders of the party (Goot 2003). The conflicts that arise from the power struggles amongst the leaders and this can eventually lead to the splitting of the party. The Green party also needs to have more plainly defined governance systems, with apparent and understandable horizontal and vertical linkages. This is because the governance systems have a big effect on the function of the party, together with how women and the youths are represented in the party. Finally, the Green party should have a steady and effective data base which will enable the party members as well as the concerned public to get to know the number of rank-and-file members the party has and thus assist the party members in conducting a better and more comprehensive outreach. Finally, if the Australian Green party maintains intra-party democracy, it will be able to maintain inter-party democracy and hence the best party would win without any problems and conflicts with other parties (R.I.C. Publications 2007). Bibliography Shale, V., 2007, “Inter-party relations and sustainable democracy,” Journal of Elections, Vol, 5/2. Somolekae, G., 2002, Compendium of Elections, Electoral Institute, Johannesburg. Ian, T., 2007, Environmental policy: Australian practice in the context of theory, Federation Press, Sydney. Goot, M., 2003, Developments in Australian politics, Palgrave Macmillan, Austria. National Library of Australia, 2006, Australian public affairs information service: a subject index to current literature, National Library Australia, New Jersey. Liberal Party of Australia, 2010, Australian federal election campaign ephemera: including press releases, policy speeches, advertising material, how to vote leaflets, press clippings, General Books, Austria. Paul, L., 2008, Green parties in transition: the end of grass-roots democracy?, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., London. Marsh, I., 2006, Political parties in transition, Federation Press, Toronto. Scott, M., 2005, A plague on both your houses: minor parties in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Austria. Verity, B., 2003, Power, profit, and protest: Australian social movements and globalization, Allen & Unwin, Austria. R.I.C. Publications, 2007, Australian identity: a sense of belonging Upper primary theme, R.I.C. Publications, Sydney. Read More