Commentators suggest the Greens’ leadership transition from Christine Milne to Richard Di Natale (pictured) is a switch from hard-line ideology to political pragmatism.
Whatever the truth of this characterisation, both extremes miss the common good. One embraces principle that cannot be put into practice, while the other overlooks good public policy in order to get legislation through parliament.
The Greens have a chequered history in relation to the Catholic Church. Their social justice positions are very close to those of the Catholic Bishops, especially when compared with other parties. These include workplace relations and welcoming asylum seekers. Yet other policies such as education funding, religious freedom and euthansia, have often prompted bishops to warn Catholics against voting for the party.
If you look at the troubles of the Greens in recent years, they are not entirely dissimilar to those of the Catholic Church, in that fundamental values have been sacrificed at the altar of doctrinal purity and many supporters have felt let down.
The Greens’ foundational commitment was to protecting the environment, yet they have consistently sided with those they regard as environmental vandals in order to reject ‘green’ legislation they regarded as compromised. In 2009, they voted down the Rudd Government’s first emissions trading scheme. Then last year they declined to support the Abbott Government’s Budget bid to increase fuel excise because the extra revenue would not be directed towards public transport improvements.
In a similar vein, there is a self-defeating disregard for the hallmark Christian commandment to ‘love one another’ in the actions of Catholics who equate tolerance of fellow Catholics who are ‘unfaithful to the magisterium’ (i.e. the teaching authority of the Church). Those whom the ‘faithful’ Catholics want excluded include divorced and remarried, and GLBTI Catholics. These doctrinal hard-liners used to take solace from some of the statements of Pope Francis’ predecessors.
But Francis has turned out to be the master politician, who has so far refused to change Church teaching but, at the same time, shown profound human acceptance of those whose lives do not outwardly conform to it, notably through his ‘Who am I to judge?’ mantra.
The new Greens leader Di Natale has been pro-active in announcing that he is in the business of politics rather than doctrinal purity. He has said he will sit down with Tony Abbott and discuss the proposed fuel excise, with a view to striking a deal that is in the interest