Hearts & Minds: Sparks fly at Politics in the Pub as green alliance fractures

When Labor, Liberal and One Nation turned down an invitation to be part of Tuesday’s Federal election edition of Politics in the Pub I expected that with the left-leaning quartet who accepted — Amy Warne of the Greens, Independent Kate Hulett, Josh Last of the Socialist Alliance, and John Bird of the Citizens Party — it would be something of a love-in, an orgy of accepted ideas, a saturnalia of shared visions.

Credit James Kerr

All I would need to do, as Master of Ceremonies, was to bring a Barry White CD, incense and a selection of essential oils. Oooh baby.

Indeed, the first half of the evening was as cosy as I expected it to be, with each of the candidates calmly explaining why we should vote for them and all the vitriol reserved for the two-party system that, if the the pundits and polls are to be trusted, will be challenged this weekend.

Warne talked about the Greens foundational pillars of ecological sustainability, social justice, peace and nonviolence and grassroots democracy; Bird said that fear for his family’s future prompted him to run (“I am a parent of three adult children, and it would break my heart to stand idly by and watch them be marched off to an American contrived war to the beat of an American drum”); Last argued that “we are the richest country in the world yet we have a cost-of-living crisis because of ridiculous billionaires”; and Hulett reminded everyone of that she has the best shot of beating Josh Wilson (“If you want to vote strategically, I would put your number one candidate as the person most likely to break the near 100 year stranglehold that labor have had on Fremantle.”)

All the speeches were warmly received, with the only aggro in the first half of the night coming when the English-born Citizen’s Party candidate snapped at my assertion that all four were birds of a feather. “I’m not a socialist!” he declared despite spruiking a set of policies that included such lefty touchstones as ending AUKUS, support for affordable housing and the need for a comprehensive healthcare system. The firebrand chartered accountant shares with Labor hero Bob Hawke more than a splendid silver mane.

Credit James Kerr

All pretense that there was a bond between the four was shattered in the second-half question-and-answer session, with Hulett challenged from the floor about her lack of community consultation in the proposed upgrade of the Wally Hagan Basketball Stadium.

Warne, who had written a letter to the Fremantle Herald, jumped onto the pie-on and raked Hulett over the coals for her blindness to environmental considerations.

“I was really annoyed that there was not even a nod from Kate for any of the work that has been done on the Roe 9 plan to turn it into a native corridor, to make it something that is special and beautiful,” implored Warne, flashing more of the steel she showed in the Notre Dame debate.

The basketball stadium was small potatoes compared to other issues on the agenda (cost of living and housing crises, AUKUS, climate change and so forth) but it revealed a deep animosity between the Hulett and Greens camps, which exploded when each of the candidates were asked if the would help the Liberals form government.

While Warne, Bird and Last said that under no circumstances would they ally themselves with Peter Dutton, Hulett would not commit. “The first rule of negotiating is having options,” said Hulett, before being shouted down for not providing a yes-no answer. But Hulett, who was in much stronger form than in the Notre Dame debate, stood her ground and declared, “You’re going to get one from me.”

Warne, sensing that Hulett was vulnerable on this issue, hit hard. “We will not form a government with Dutton because we do not want that nasty punching-down, Trumpy, divisive nation-wrecking person running our country,” she said. Woah Amy! Tell us what you really think!

“Voters need to know who we would or would not form government with in the case of a hung parliament,” continued Warne. “We need to know what’s going to happen,” continued Warne.

The question of process came up again when someone asked how can any individual or party refuse to work with the Liberals as their supporters make up a significant section of the Fremantle electorate. It was the opening Hulett needed.

“We have to be able to talk to all voters. We have to be a broad church. We have to bring people along with us. It’s our job to work on behalf of all the people, so we cannot just tell people that they’re excluded from the work we’re doing,” said Hulett, who remained cool under pressure and answered with the precision and pragmatism of somebody preparing to step into power.

Warne fired back, arguing that voting for Hulett instead of the Greens has the overall effect of making a progressive electorate like Fremantle a little more conservative.

“We don’t need a lighter version [of the Greens] for people to vote for,” she said. “It’s a furphy that people don’t vote for the Greens. Brisbane went Green three seats over. So it can happen here. We can change it,” said Warne.

The second-half skirmishes made for a fascinating evening and brought into sharp focus the exhilaration and unease brought about by the rise of the independents, whose emergence is celebrated — “It is an amazing phenomena that has changed the landscape of Australian politics,” said Warne — yet has triggered an intriguing debate about process and the most effective way of bringing about change.

Should the independents and minor parties cling to their values, like an old-timey sea captain in the middle of storm clutching the wheel of his ship, or should they steer a path through the rocky shores that is the reality of dealing with the majors in a what is still essentially a two-party system — trimming the sails to avoid collision, throwing overboard excess cargo, forgetting about those who have fallen overboard?

When it comes to changing direction none has been more startling than that of Josh Last of the Socialist Alliance who revealed to the astonished and amused crowd that he came from a deeply conservative farming family and was once a member of the Young Liberals.

He then went on to explain that he was politicised while doing seasonal work overseas and being made the boss simply because he was white. “It was disgraceful,” remembers Last, who is leaving behind a lucrative career in IT to become a teacher.

Last also spent time in Thailand working with refugees — “They are such wonderful people,” he said — and came to regard Aung San Suu Kyi as his political hero, that is until she failed to act on ethnic cleansing.

“I don’t have any political heroes anymore,” said Last, a comment that trailed off into this rowdy night’s most telling quiet moment.

* By Mark Naglazas