PETER VAN ONSELEN: Greens leader Adam Bandt manages to do something rare with his grubby politics… but it didn’t last long

The Greens managed to achieve something rare this week: they brought the major parties together, albeit briefly.

Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese joined forces to attack Greens leader Adam Bandt for engaging in dirty political tactics by using the Gaza conflict to win votes for his party, risking anti-Semitism and even incite violence.

The Prime Minister said Green MPs and senators are spreading misinformation about the conflict in Palestine, calling it ‘unacceptable’.

A number of Labor MPs have had their electorates damaged by pro-Palestinian protesters, and Albanese’s own electorate in his Sydney seat has now been closed for more than six months as activists posed a threat.

Dutton went even further, accusing the Greens of “turning a blind eye” to such attacks on parliament offices, fueling divisions in the community and undermining social cohesion.

Adam Bandt (photo) is accused of inciting violence and fomenting division

But in response, Bandt doubled down, declaring that he “will not be lectured about peace and nonviolence by people who support the invasion of Gaza.”

Bandt has even threatened defamation proceedings against Attorney General Mark Dreyfus – who himself is Jewish – over critical comments he has made about the Greens leader.

Reducing the complex problems of the Middle East to political slogans designed to score points at home over a conflict on the other side of the world certainly shows that the Greens have borrowed from Labour’s ‘whatever it takes ‘-playbook. No matter how disrespectful it is.

It seems that the Greens are at the center of many political debates, but not in any of them. Choosing to appeal to a narrow corridor of voters that will give the small party the numbers it needs to win Senate seats in the states, and to win seats in the inner city, from both major parties , but especially from Labour.

A party that only obtains just over 10 percent of the votes can do so thanks to the Senate electoral system and the preferential agreements it makes with the major parties, in particular the Labor Party.

That’s why the unity between Albo and Dutton came to a swift end in Question Time today, when the Opposition Leader challenged the Prime Minister to intervene and insist that the Greens come last on the Labor voting cards at the next election would be placed.

Dutton also questioned whether Labor would be willing to use the Greens’ support to govern as a minority government after the next election. A fair question.

But the line of attack gave the prime minister an opportunity to focus these twin issues on Dutton. The Prime Minister reminded him that the coalition does not put Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party last, and that Labor does not govern in coalition with any other political party; it is the Liberals who do that together with the Nationals.

Whatever the current Prime Minister’s shortcomings – and they are increasing in a wide range of policy areas – he is at his strongest when debating political issues inside the Beltway.

Anthony Albanese (pictured left) and Peter Dutton (pictured right) disagree on choosing the Greens last

That’s the territory Dutton moved into at the start of Question Time, before quickly turning to other issues.

If the Liberals are serious about excluding the Greens, they should start by not favoring the minor party over Labor in inner-city seats like Bandt’s.

Without liberal preference flows, the Greens would not win the seats they are slowly and steadily gaining in these areas.

But Liberal strategists won’t do that, just as Labor strategists won’t promise to put the Greens last and won’t make Senate preference deals with them in exchange for favorable preferences for marginal seats in the House of Commons.

That is precisely why the Prime Minister waved away questions on this issue.

In other words, the major parties simply want to bash the Greens for their own political reasons. When it comes to practical follow-up, there is none. Despite all the hairy talk.

Meanwhile, Andrew Giles survives as immigration minister, despite his buffoonery. The NDIS is still being robbed and money is even being spent on sex workers and cocaine, if you can believe that. And this week’s economic data shows that we are in a per capita recession for the fifth consecutive quarter, with growth plummeting to just 0.1 percent.

Yet the Treasurer, with characteristic smugness, still uses the floor of Parliament to gloat about his achievements. Patting himself on the back for his budget when no one else does.

Thank God there are only two weeks left before the long winter recess.