Adam Bandt is the white male lawyer running for the Greens Party in the seat of Melbourne.
His pitch is that somehow his own election is “historic” because he would be the first ever Greens Party candidate elected to the lower house in a general election (as opposed to a by-election).
Apparently a Greens Party MP in the House of Representatives would change politics as we know it (if some of the outlandish things you hear Greens campaigners say is true).
He was reported in the Business Spectator:
As Bandt told Poll Position last week, the significance of winning a House of Reps seat is huge, because it would give the 38-year-old former lawyer the opportunity to give at least the Greens’ opinion on every piece of legislation that passed through that house – before his colleagues tore it to shreds in the Senate, that is.
(My emphasis.)
So, Bandt’s pitch is that his election would be of huge significance, and that the Greens Party in the House of Reps would see real change because a Greens Party MP will be able to “give his opinion” on legislation.
But let’s not forget that a Greens Party candidate was elected in 2002 in a by-election in Cunningham in NSW: Michael Organ. Michael Organ spent 2 years in the House of Representatives as a Greens Party MP before being dumped by his electorate in 2004.
I’ve written before about former Greens Party MP Michael Organ’s achievements before:
Because in his two years as a Greens Party MP, he was able to achieve nothing. Check hisWikipedia page, or his personal web page or his list of Parliamentary speeches. No achievements are listed. Nothing delivered for his local constituents. In fact, he achieved so little that the Greens Party, Bob Brown, NSW Greens supremo Lee Rhiannon and even Adam Bandt have erased him from Greens history.
Adam Bandt is promising absolutely nothing to Melbourne except to “give the Greens Party’s opinion” on legislation before it goes to the Senate.
His entire campaign is egotistically based around the idea that his own election is somehow historic. In fact, the House of Reps has seen a Greens Party MP before. Michael Organ spent his entire time talking about Tibet and the Free Trade Agreement (both worthwhile issues) but did not deliver anything for his electorate.
It was two wasted years for the people living in Cunningham.
This is what Melbourne voters can expect if Adam Bandt is disastrously elected. Adam Bandt giving his opinion on legislation. He won’t be able to change things. He won’t be able to amend legislation. He won’t be able to deliver anything to his constituents. All the heavy lifting policy-wise for the Greens Party will be done by the Senators.
Melbourne needs a candidate who can actually make a difference in Government. Cath Bowtell is that candidate.
The ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence has asked unions for their Melbourne members' data so the ACTU call centre can ask people to vote for former ACTU official and Labor candidate Cath Bowtell, instead of Greens candidate and industrial lawyer Adam Bandt.
Why is the ACTU focused on knocking off probably the most pro-union candidate in the country, instead of stopping Tony Abbott?
If you are a union member and live in Melbourne you might want to call your union and the ACTU and respectfully ask – what is going on?
The ACTU is actually campaigning to stop Abbott by running the Your Rights At Work campaign.
The Greens Party are not campaigning against the Liberals anywhere in Australia. Instead, the Greens Party are campaigning to elect yet another white, male lawyer into Parliament.
Cath Bowtell has a proven track record of standing up for working people when she was senior industrial officer at the ACTU. Unlike Adam Bandt, Cath has actually delivered real improvements that have actually made a positive difference to working people in Australia.
To call Bandt "the most pro-union candidate in the country" is risible. Cath Bowtell and the many other Labor candidates have devoted their lives to improving the working conditions of working people. Adam Bandt (except for the brief time he spent at Slater/Gordan) has spent his whole life campaigning to get himself elected to Parliament.