Fed: Greens warn Rudd to play fair
Thu Jul 2 03:19:41 EST 2009
CANBERRA, July 1 AAP - The Australian Greens say they are fed up with being taken for granted by the federal government, and warn they are "not a faction" of Labor.
The Greens jointly hold the balance of power in the Senate and the government has relied on them to pass some key bills.
The strongly-worded comments from Greens leader Bob Brown could spell trouble for the government, in the form of a more hostile Senate.
Senator Brown says he has has written to prime minister Kevin Rudd telling him that "politics is a two-way street".
"Don't take us for granted, Kevin Rudd's been doing that," Senator Brown told ABC Television on Wednesday night.
The government had promised various things to the Greens then not carried them through, Senator Brown said.
And Mr Rudd had been "completely dismissive" of the Greens over the government's new push to assist the forestry industry, according to Senator Brown.
"The Greens are not a faction, we expect fair dealing from Prime Minister Rudd and he's not showing it," he said.
