We have to vote out the Howard government, but that doesn't have to mean settling for Howard-Lite. Voting 1 Greens and 2 Labor on the Lower House ballot paper means we can help end 11 years of conservative rule and vote for something more than Labor's me-tooism.

On the Senate ballot paper, you only need to mark 1 Greens above the line because all Greens Senate preferences will flow to Labor.

The Greens have stood for progressive positions on dozens of issues. For example, its IR policy calls for:

• The abolition of AWA individual contracts; Labor says it will scrap them but not until 2012. Labor has not explained what AWAs will be replaced with.
• The right of all workers to challenge unfair dismissal; Labor retains the government's unfair dismissal ban for workers who have been employed for less than six months, a policy that could easily be manipulated by bosses.
• Restoration of the national/state award system and industry-wide agreements; Labor says it will ask state governments to hand over their IR powers to the Commonwealth and will retain the ban on industry-wide (pattern) bargaining.
• The right of unions to enter workplaces; Labor retains the ban on the right of entry, a policy designed to obstruct union organising.
• The abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC); the ABCC has been used to witch-hunt union members in the building industry.
  At the behest of the big building corporations, Labor is committed to retain the ABCC until 2010 and may even replace it with a new anti-union watchdog.Like the maritime union, the building unions have been at the forefront of supporting other unions, environmental struggles, workers overseas and democratic rights. This is not just any union being targeted-it's one of most historically important and militant.
• The right to strike; this includes the abolition of compulsory secret ballots before taking strike action, as well as anti-union measures in the Trade Practices Act. Under Labor, strike action will continue to be illegal in all but exceptional circumstances.

The Greens stand against the wars of George Bush and John Howard and the crackdown on our rights since 9/11:

• They support full withdrawal of Australian forces from Iraq; Labor says it will withdraw just 550 "combat" troops from the ADF's 1,575-strong force and will do so only on the basis of a timetable "negotiated" with the US. Kevin Rudd is lying when he says Labor will end Australia's involvement in Iraq.
• Full withdrawal of Australian forces from Afghanistan. Labor is for continuing the occupation and posibly escalating it.
• The Greens called for the return and release of David Hicks while Rudd equivocated over what Hicks had "done or was alleged to have done".
• They oppose the anti-terror laws. Labor supports them despite the curtailment of freedom of speech and the treatment of Mohamed Haneef.
• They took a stand against the government over the arrival of the MV Tampa in August 2001, the deaths of 353 refugees aboard the SIEV-X in October 2001 and the lies told about "children overboard". Despite later attacking them, Labor supported the government initially, when it mattered the most.

The Greens are clearly ahead of Labor on the climate crisis, with stricter targets for greenhouse gas reductions and mandatory renewable energy.

They have opposed Labor's wasteful promise to match 90 per cent of the government's $34 billion election tax cut and argue for serious investment in our services, including an upgrade of public transport and a return to free university education.

A vote for the Greens can help bring about Howard's downfall. But it also sends a message that Labor's right-wing policies will be challenged.

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