We’ve seen some ridiculous political ads over the years, but the above “The Greening of Labor” campaign surely takes the cake.
Beneath rollicking rock music, the ad tries to paint the picture that Labor and the Greens are one and the same, and that they would very likely join forces to oust the Coalition.
The most ridiculous statement in the ad is that Labor is adopting Greens policies, pointing to Labor’s reforms to negative gearing, as well as multinational tax avoidance:
The ad, of course, fails to mention that Malcolm Turnbull himself labelled negative gearing a “sheltering tax haven” in 2005, and Treasurer Scott Morrison recently admitted there were “excesses” in the system. And what about the Coalition’s own policies to crack-down on multinational tax avoidance?
There are other inconsistencies, too. The ad claims that two ALP candidates formerly stood for the Greens. But it fails to mention that the lead National Party candidate in Western Australia, Kado Muir, had stood for the Greens in every state and federal election since 2004. Oops. I guess Muir is “greening the Coalition” then?
Lenore Taylor correctly notes that either party would very likely have to deal with the minority parties to pass legislation – that’s the way politics in Australia works. Moreover, the Coalition has done special deals with the Greens in the past:
The Tasmanian Greens, under then leader Christine Milne, supported a minority state Liberal government between 1996 and 1998. In the last parliament the Coalition negotiated with the Greens to pass tax disclosure laws, Senate voting reform and in the previous parliament to sink Labor’s proposed “Malaysia solution” for asylum seekers arriving by boat.
Treasurer Scott Morrison has labelled the attack ad a “truth campaign”. Stop lying, Scott. It’s a farcical scare campaign and, to be honest, only serves to make the Coalition look like a pack of Abbott-led nutters.
What’s so evil about “green” anyway?