Greens leader Senator Richard Di Natale has indicated today that he would be willing to enter into a coalition with the Labor Party to form government in the future, and modestly named himself as a potential health minister. One wonders why didn’t he just go the whole hog put himself forward as a future PM with Shorten or Plibersek as his deputy?
Although Senator Di Natale discussed the potential for a more intimate relationship with the ALP, he was quick to rule out the chance of joining forces with the Liberal Party or the National Party anytime in the future, however I suspect he might find that the feeling is mutual.
Evidently, Senator Di Natale neglected to consult with the ALP before speaking to the media about whether they were keen to jump into bed with the Greens.
Di Natale’s intimate advances towards the ALP were not received or reciprocated, and the party responded rather frostily, with a spokesman stating that if Senator Di Natale wanted to serve in a Labor government, he should join the ALP.
The ALP’s cold response to Senator Di Natale’s advances are no surprise, given the last time the Labor party joined forces with the Greens was in Tasmania, and all that succeeded in achieving was losing the ALP’s hold on government, and making some very frustrated and annoyed citizens and voters. The pseudo ALP-Greens coalition under Prime Minister Julia Gillard was also a spectacular failure for the Labor Party, and left a rather unsavory and gangrene taste in the mouth of the electorate. As the old saying goes, ‘once bitten, twice shy.’
While the Greens dream of their second bite of the watermelon in a Green-ALP coalition, it seems that no one, least the Australian Labor Party wants anything to do with it.