Gillard slams Greens as 'party of protest'

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Photo / Greg Bowker

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has attacked the Greens as a "party of protest" in a bid to draw a sharp line between Labor and the bloc whose votes she needs to continue governing.

Her attack has drawn immediate fire from Greens leader Bob Brown, who accused the Prime Minister of firing an "unwarranted and gratuitous insult" against people whose support was crucial to her Administration.

But Opposition leader Tony Abbott said Gillard was faking a split. "I think what we're really seeing is just a fake fight, a phoney lovers' tiff," he said.

"The fact is that Labor is in office but the Greens are in power. Julia Gillard might be in the Lodge but Bob Brown is the real Prime Minister of this country."

Gillard maintains power through the support of the sole Green MP and three independents, a dependence that will increase in July when the Greens assume the balance of power in the Senate.

There have already been tensions between the two, most recently over Brown's decision not to support tax cuts for big business funded by the controversial mining profits tax.

The tax cannot survive the Senate without the Greens' support.

Labor has also been accused of bowing to the Greens' social agenda, which includes same-sex marriage and euthanasia, both opposed by Gillard.

The Prime Minister needs to walk a fine and sensitive line with the Greens, facing tough negotiations in which any concessions will be painted by the Opposition as handing control to Brown.

She used the inaugural Gough Whitlam Oration in Sydney to stress Labor's credentials as a party that had shed the welfare state in favour of hard work and enterprise.

"We are the party of work, not welfare. That's why we respect the efforts of the brickie and look with a jaundiced eye at the lifestyle of the socialite."

In contrast, Gillard said, the Greens were a well-intentioned party of protest that had lost touch with the values of "ordinary, suburban" Australians.

She said the Greens wrongly rejected the moral imperative requiring a strong economy.

"The Greens have some worthy ideas and many of their supporters sincerely want better politics in our country," she said.

"They have good intentions but fail to understand the centrepiece of our big picture - the people Labor strives to represent need work.

"And the Greens will never embrace Labor's delight at sharing the values of everyday Australians, in our cities, suburbs, towns and bush, who day after day do the right thing, leading purposeful and dignified lives, driven by love of family and nation."

Brown said there was "something very, very amiss" in Gillard describing the 1.5 million Australians who voted for the Greens as lacking a love of family or of nation.

But he said her comments would not shatter the party's support for the Government: "I think we've got to be mature enough to have differences and to debate those without getting into high dudgeon about it."