Greens Vow to Block Potential Liberal Minority Government

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young reacts during a press conference after winning her defamation case against against former Senator David Leyonhjelm today in the Senate at Parliament House on Nov. 25, 2019 in Canberra, Australia. Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images

While a recent AFP poll suggesting a possible minority government led by the Liberals in the next federal election, the Greens have been quick to assert they will have no part in it.

“We will be the insurance in the parliament to stop that,” Greens communications spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters.

Hanson-Young warned that if the Liberal-National Coalition musters enough crossbench support to govern, the Greens would hold them accountable in the Senate.

“We'll stop Peter Dutton from pushing people’s power prices nuclear. We will stop his dangerous attack on renewables and his culture wars that want to drive division in this country rather than unity,” the senator said.

Upon his accession, Dutton initially trailed far behind Albanese in terms of popularity—due to a perceived lack of support from female voters, and also for having too “hard” of an image.

However, over the last two years, the Coalition leader has managed to chip away at the Labor government’s popularity while cost of living continues to gnaw away at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The prime minister has also suffered a series of public relations missteps including his decision purchase a $4.3 million property, or his handling of the Adass Israel Synagogue firebombing.

Further, Dutton’s decisions to back the “No” campaign against The Voice proposal, and propose the adoption of civilian nuclear power, have helped differentiate the Coalition’s policy offerings from Labor—an issue with the previous Morrison government.

‘Fired Up’ Greens Ready to Fight

Meanwhile, the Greens have changed tone following a chastening 2024 where the party made fewer inroads across several elections, and have adopted a harsher stance towards the Coalition while working to appear more amenable to Labor.

Hanson-Young declared the Greens are “fired up” and “ready to go whenever the prime minister decides to call the election.”

“We are living in a world where our climate is getting worse. Our environment is on the brink of collapse,” Hanson-Young said.

“We’re losing native species and habitats and natural spaces at a rate like never before, and we have a huge cost of living crisis that’s impacting very vulnerable groups within our community, and we need solutions.”

Concerns Over Elon Musk and Social Media Influence

She also expressed concern that Elon Musk, the owner of X and a high-profile backer of Donald Trump, will “start platforming Dutton more than Anthony Albanese.”

She said the alliance between the owners of social media and other tech companies and Trump was “worrying” and “you can already see Elon Musk thinking that he wants to flex his political muscle now outside the U.S. and into across the world.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese weighed in saying social media platforms needed to moderate content.

“Social media has a social responsibility,” Albanese said.

“I’ve met too many parents who’ve lost their young ones as a result of the impact that social media has had. We know that the rise in mental health issues for young people is linked with social media,” he added.