Richard Di Natale said the party he leads is growing in power, telling supporters that the Greens remained hopeful of picking up key lower house seats come polling day, particularly in inner Melbourne electorates.
However, he conceded that the party may need to focus on the long-term game for several seats it has in its sights, saying “even if they don’t turn Green this election, they will be Green seats in coming elections”.
The Greens hopes of gaining seats such as Wills, Higgins and Batman in Melbourne, and Grayndler and Sydney, took a hit after the Liberals announced their preferences would flow to Labor ahead of the Greens.
However, Di Natale said he was not making any concessions by admitting that picking up anything more than a couple of seats might be tough come 2 July.
“It’s just a reflection of reality,” he told reporters. “It will be tight. I think what you’ll see in a number of these seats it will go down to the wire.
“And if we have a bit of luck, we’ll pick up one or two of those seats. If we don’t, then beware the next election. Because the tide is turning. We are seeing the Greens vote continuing to grow in many of those lower house seats.”
He told a room full of about 300 party supporters at the Greens campaign launch in a North Melbourne warehouse on Sunday: “Don’t for a moment listen to those people who are currently in those seats who think that they’re entitled to them, who think we don’t have a right to stand against them”.
“Those seats belong to the community and the community will decide about who represents them,” he said.
The party was also hopeful of holding on to its two senate spots in South Australia and picking up a couple more in Queensland and NSW.
“The Greens will be a real force in both houses of parliament,” Di Natale said to applause.
His key message to the room was that voters were increasingly turning to the party because it was the “only party who can be trusted to stand up to vested interests”.
“We stood firm against the climate-deniers in this government,” he said. “We paved the way on issues like medicinal cannabis. We passed laws on multinational tax avoidance. And of course we put power back into the hands of voters by reforming the voting system in the Senate. We are the only party who can be trusted to stand up to vested interests.
“We’ll make sure that big business and the super rich pay their fair share so that ordinary people can get access to decent schools and hospitals.”
He denied that the Green vote was increasing due to his taking a more mainstream approach since becoming leader just over a year ago.
“People will put their own analysis on it,” he said. “I said when I took on the leadership that we are the party of progressive mainstream values.”
There were no new policy announcements at the launch, which was held while the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, launched his campaign in Sydney. The Greens outlined most of their plans in the previous weeks of the election campaign, including investing an extra $664m into Medicare, their clean energy plan to increase the renewable energy target to 90% by 2030, and increasing Australia’s intake of asylum seekers. The Greens commitments so far total $123bn.
Di Natale also highlighted the Greens plans to tackle growing income inequality by ending tax breaks for high income earners, and their push to ditch the marriage equality plebiscite and allow a free vote in the parliament.
In front of former Greens leaders Bob Brown and Christine Milne, local Greens lower house candidates, and senators Larissa Waters and Sarah Hanson-Young, Di Natale said the Greens have “never been in better shape” and the party was taking a positive and optimistic message into the election.
“People are fed up with being ignored with an election campaign that has not addressed the challenges of this century,” he said.
“And they’re looking to the Greens in growing numbers. Our vote is growing because people understand that we do need to tackle dangerous global warming.
“Our vote is growing because people understand that innocent people fleeing torture and persecution coming here seeking protection can make a contribution to the nation and we can meet those challenges through a little more compassion, creativity and cooperation.
“It’s growing because people want their precious places to be protected for their kids and the grandkids. It’s growing because people want their kids to enter the housing market.
“I’m so proud to be standing with you leading a party that has the courage and the vision so sadly lacking in Australia today, that has the courage and vision to stand with people right across the country on those things that matter.”
Asked to weigh in on comments from the former Labor prime minister Paul Keating that the Greens “are a bunch of opportunists and Trots hiding behind a gum tree trying to pretend they’re the Labor party,” Di Natale replied: “rather than looking for other people to blame for the disengagement people have in politics, look in your own backyard”.
“The old parties have no one to blame but themselves for the fact that people are moving to the Greens and independents in growing numbers,” he said.
