You’d never know it from their behaviour, but the Greens hold 10 seats in the current Senate compared to the Palmer United Party’s three.

Their current strategy of voting against virtually everything the Abbott Government announces, including things they actually support, has made them largely irrelevant since the last election. It is hard to think of a more breathtaking act of political obstructionism than the Greens’ refusal to support the reintroduction of petrol excise indexation. 

The Greens have campaigned for a decade for taxes to be used to discourage fossil fuel use. The Greens wanted the carbon tax to apply to petrol. The Greens want to spend more money on essential services. So it is unbelievable that they have repeatedly refused to support the Abbott Government on this budget measure.