While the story of the Greens politics in general is mixture of lies, back flips, ideological emptiness and opposition for the sake of getting more votes only. But the story of Lee Rhiannon is the worst case in that camp.
Ms Rhiannon had given very bad example about political career empty of any real achievements or any principled stances. It was all about power accumulating, with no agenda of socio-economic changes.
Ms Rhiannon started her political career as Stalinist. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union and loss of platform, she chose to join the Greens. Inside the Greens and after losing the ideological grounds, she decided to change her skin and run for animal rights. She started to camp outside slaughterhouses and butcheries against killing animals or keeping animals in cages. Nobody knows how for someone who was member of Stalinist group and did not bother about Stalin butchering millions of Russians and Soviets, would accept this dramatic change. That was the first back flip.
Then and because all her campaigns outside zoos and slaughterhouses could not attract her any serious attention, she decided to run desperate campaign on the rights of marginalised groups to be equally represented. But she chose to campaign for one marginalised group: White Anglo-Saxon women rights. Her desperate repeated campaigns succeeded in changing the Greens constitution to introduce articles about the necessity to take all steps needed to promote women to parliaments. These changes and desperate campaigns won her spot in the Greens tickets for the 1999 NSW election. And she won a seat as MLC on the agenda of increasing the representation of White Anglo-Saxon women in parliaments. But when many Greens members tried to broaden the understanding of the Greens of the needs of other marginalised groups who has no representation in parliaments (Indigenous, Non-English speaking, people with disabilities) she counteracted all these attempts by her teeth and claws. She was even caught saying that language is not a barrier for integration and so not a reason for marginalisation. The same was her views about indigenous marginalisation. And that was her second big back flip. Such back flip that saw departure of majority of Indigenous, non English speaking and Muslim members after they have realised that all the noise of the Greens empty rhetoric on the rights of marginalised, was only just slogans for electoral agendas.
Before that and in her desperate bid to get rid of her strong rival and historical figure in environmental movement, Ian Cohen, she led a campaign to stop him from being elected again in 2003. She ran ruthless and vicious campaigns to impose limited tenure for Greens parliamentarians of 8 years. She made desperate allegations that staying in politics for long time will corrupt politicians. But her ruthless campaigns failed and Mr Cohen was re-elected, 2003. After that everyone inside the Greens and outside it thought that she will honour her commitments for limited tenure of politicians and she will not seek preselection after her 8 years in politics expired on 2007. Again, she upset everyone and proved that she has no principles to stick to. She ran for 2007 election and continued her political career beyond the 8 years proposed by her earlier. Recently and after running for federal election, she claims in her leaflet that she has “decade of experience in parliament” (no more talks about power corrupting politicians!)
That was her biggest back flip, but she did not care.
Examples of smaller back flips are countless.
Ms Rhiannon run very big campaign about the politicians increased privileges and allowances. But at the same time and after government and Liberals opposition would pass legislations to increase privileges (which is not compulsory privliges, i.e. politician can still save tax-payers money and refuse to use these privileges). Instead, Ms Rhiannon would use all her privileges to the last cent available. Example of this is the free $40 lunch on tax-payers money. She ran mad campaign to portray such legislation as evil and huge waste of tax-payers money. Since the introduction of this legislation, Ms Rhiannon would have free $40 lunch everyday she is at parliament.
Then she ran very vicious campaign advocating transparency and “clean politics” away from politicians’ abuse of their privileges and available resource funded by public tax-payers money. Now we know that she abused these resources and privileges funded by tax-payers money (Brown calls on Greens state MP to resign: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2010/s2948755.htm).
My piece here mentioned just few big clear back flips committed by Ms Rhiannon. I would not go into her back flips on political promises that she never kept or honoured. May be this would be subject for another opinion piece.
Imagine that the Greens are seeking you to vote for such politicians as an alternative for the major two parties. Can you spot any difference? Or the question should be who do you think is worse?
I, definitely, would not vote for such politician that has such history of making all these lies and deceptions and back stabbing of even “comrades” in the same party.
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