Now; about those "principled" Greenies...

Don't worry bsprout; this post isn't about the Green Party of Aotearoa. But their counterparts in Australia have some explaining to do; check this out, via News.com.au:

THE Greens risk a backlash from many of their supporters after forging a controversial preference deal with mining magnate Clive Palmer.
Despite calling for a ban on new coal mines, the Greens have quietly announced they will put the Palmer United Party ahead of Labor and the Coalition in a raft of lower house seats.
The Senate balance of power party has also ironed out a Senate preference deal with Mr Palmer - a move designed to help South Australian Greens' Senator Sarah Hanson-Young win her seat.

The controversial preference swap comes just days after Tony Abbott announced plans to put the Greens last on Liberal Party how to vote cards.

But Mr Palmer, who has over 25 years experience in the Australian resources industry and has negotiated multi-billion-dollar coal deals with China, has defended his deal with the Senate balance of power party ahead of next month's poll.

"The parties are free to preference anyone. That is part of the democratic system," Mr Palmer said.

The Greens - who are under challenge in at least three Senate positions and in the seat of Melbourne - are sending mixed messages to their supporters.
On the one hand, they are urging voters to "preference progressive minor parties" while also forging a preference swap with Mr Palmer.

Quite how the Australian Greens are going to sell this back-flip to their supporters is anyone's guess. It's not going to help the credibility of the party and its candidates at all to be climbing into bed with a man who has made billions from coal mining.

And as if the Greens didn't have problems enough with this, their sole MP in the Lower House is facing defeat; the SMH reports:

The Greens are set to lose their only MP in the lower house, with a new poll showing Labor is on track to seize control of the prized Melbourne seat it held for more than a century.
But hopes that Kevin Rudd could place Labor in a competitive position at next month's election have been dealt another blow, with the Liberals likely to easily pick up the marginal seats of Deakin and Corangamite, and also hold on to the increasingly volatile country seat of Indi.
Three years after making history by becoming the first Greens MP to win a spot in the lower house, a ReachTEL poll has shown that Adam Bandt's primary vote is going backwards, with the deputy leader trailing behind Labor candidate Cath Bowtell on first preferences, at 33.5 per cent to 33.8 per cent.

Based on preference flows at the 2010 state election (where the Liberals placed the Greens last), this would put the ALP ahead of the Greens on a two-party preferred basis, at 54-46 per cent.

The figures came as former Greens leader Bob Brown returned to Melbourne on Saturday to help improve the party's chances, declaring he was confident Mr Bandt could retain the seat, despite Tony Abbott's ''captain's call'' last week to place the Greens last on Liberal how-to-vote cards.
But a slump in Mr Bandt's primary vote on September 7 would make it virtually impossible for him to retain the seat. On the MP's own figures, he would need at least 42 per cent of first preferences to win in his own right.

Maybe the Australian Greens need Russel Norman to go back over the deetch and lead them back into Parliament. Who knows; it could solve problems on BOTH sides of the Tasman!