Below, an email from Kien Choong, but first, Tim McMinn writes:
I think that the critique of the Greens' foreign policy in 'Feeling queasy' is selective and un-necessarily alarmist in tone.
No party, even the Greens, is likely going to get so much of what it wants in a short space of time. There are only so many horses that can be traded in negotiations, and my guess is that many of the points Andrew Shearer lists would not be on the Greens top priority list. They will be usurped instead by domestic policies like legalising gay marriage and enacting climate legislation.
I believe that as time goes on the Greens will gain an increased level of policies influence. As this happens, the ideals of their policies will become tempered with pragmatism, while still leaning to the left. This would be welcome to many Australians who don't believe that foreign policy is the purvey of the right.
I would also note that the major parties have not been leading by example in presenting clear foreign policy directions to the world. Australia has staggered and back-flipped over issues like climate change and asylum seekers over the last three years, and this has caused some damage to our credibility as a regional leader. The Greens at least have clear and principled policies on these issues.
Kien Choong:
I wonder if Mr Cook and Mr Shearer might share their thoughts on the extent to which the new role that the Green party has acquired from the recent election might cause the Green party to reconsider some or all of their policy positions. Perhaps the Green party leaders might have good reason to soften some of their policy positions in order to achieve outcomes that they have good prospects of influencing?
