Milne warns of vote for micro-parties

Christine Milne has brushed off suggestions her hold on the Greens leadership could be in jeopardy should Senator Scott Ludlam fail to hold his seat in this weekend's poll.

Making a major address ahead of the WA Senate re-run, Senator Milne said she hoped a strong result for the Greens would draw a line under the party's recent poor performance at the ballot box.

The Greens suffered a major defeat at the recent Tasmanian State election. The party lost two of its five seats and its parliamentary party status.

"I think the Tasmanian election is where we draw the line underneath the going out of the tide for progressive forces, if you like," Senator Milne said.

"I believe that Western Australia is going to be the absolute beginning of the coming back in of the tide . . . we are going to see Scott Ludlam do very well in Western Australia."

She said she and Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt were a "strong and united leadership team".

Senator Milne, who will be in Perth today to campaign alongside Senator Ludlam, warned West Australians not to risk their vote on a micro-party.

She said if WA returned three Liberals, two ALP senators and a Green then the State would have "changed the ledger" and one vote would have shifted from the conservatives to the progressives.

Senator Milne said the "gaming" of the electoral system by the micro-parties had left Australia subject to the whims of people who secured less than one per cent of the vote. "The numbers in the Senate matter and will determine whether Prime Minister Abbott and the conservatives get absolute control," she said.

Senator Milne said she was in favour of reforms of the Senate voting system, but warned against proposed new measures such as making it more expensive to register a political party. 'I believe that Western Australia is going to be the beginning of the coming back in of the tide.'" Greens leader Christine Milne