An exciting new election pitch by the Green Party proposes that every Australian man, woman and child would wash under a solar heated shower.

An exciting new election pitch by the Green Party proposes that every Australian man, woman and child would wash under a solar heated shower.

"A complete change over to solar could potentially reduce the state's greenhouse gas production by 2200 million tonnes each year," Greens energy spokesman Louis Delacretaz said. (Michael Warner, Solar Conversion a must under Greens, Herald Sun, October 21, 2006).

Under the Green Party's new election campaign, solar power units would be installed in all new homes and electric and gas systems would be slowly replaced over the next 15 years. The controversial new policy would also see the closure of Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe Valley. The Greens are also pledging to spend a huge $10.5 billion in upgrading the Public transport network and Education is set to receive $1 billion in additional funding.

Major Political parties have historically taken the Green Party's pre-election promises as a joke. However, the Green's are highly likely to grab the balance of power in the new 40 seat Legislative council due to changes in the state's electoral boundaries. Voting for the upper house has changed from preferential to proportional and has threatened Labour and Liberal's strong-hold in state politics. This in turn has created an opportunity for smaller parties to take them on at the polls.

Early polling shows the Greens winning up to three seats in the coming election.
Greens leader Greg Barber said "The closer we get to an election date the more hysterical the other parties become about our policy; but in reality a lot of it is just plain common sense." (Michael Warner et al).

Last month the Herald Sun revealed that the Greens had plans to convince Victorians that they were no longer a "bunch of feral tree-huggers". The party is planning to sway voters into believing it is a real chance of election success and is a legitimate political alternative. The document instructs Greens to hold professional campaign launches and dress conservatively in a bid to move away from this mentality.