The phrase “Greens political party” has been heard five times in Parliament so far this week. In contrast, it was voiced by the prime minister, the treasurer, the minister of early childhood education and a couple of backbenchers in the government.

The misnomer for the Australian Greens, now largely part of Labor’s rhetoric, was first used in Parliament in 2004 by Liberal Party Senator Ian Macdonald. During a debate on invasive species, the then minister of fisheries, forestry and conservation I used this phrase eight times in the same speech. Macdonald clearly intended to belittle the Greens, whom he described as having “left-wing, pro-Saddam, anti-American policies” that would appeal to voters who would “normally vote for the old Communist Party.”

The phrase has remained a mainstay of critical floor speeches ever since and has been used 980 times, but it is not until the current Parliament that it really came into use.

In the five years since it was first used in Parliament, this expression has been uttered 53 times. It has been used 350 times since Anthony Albanese’s Labor government took office.

Greens Senate staffer Pat Caruana was mocked The use of the expression on Twitter was explained cricket He said he saw this as a way to “smear” the Greens by reminding voters that the party was part of the political process.

“The Labor Party wants people to think we’re just like them, to drag us down to their level, to get us down in the mud just like them,” he said. “Some of their attacks may be effective, but that’s a very clumsy statement. And it’s funny because attacking only gets you so far: Labor is a political party, too. If you follow the logic of that as a line of attack, it doesn’t actually get you anywhere.”

cricket He understands that some Labor insiders see this as a way of reminding people that the Greens are a political party, not an activist group. This phrase is used partly in response to the Greens self-defining as “a movement…supported by a network of grassroots supporters.”

Deliberately misnaming your political opponents is an old, tried-and-true tactic; Look at the USA, where Republicans exist. He made fun of the Democratic Party This party, known as the “Democratic Party” since the 19th century, has increasingly taken on a negative connotation since the 1940s.

Tim Moore, formerly a retired associate professor of linguistics at Swinburne University, said it was a “clear rhetorical strategy” for the two major parties to use the phrase “Green political party”.

“I think the insistence on the moniker ‘political party’ is to undermine the perception that the organization is a broad grassroots movement – ​​a movement guided by principles and beliefs that its members hold passionately about the country – and to portray them as just another party, a party. “Those who are just playing ‘political’ games to advance their own interests,” he said. Crikey.

“It seems an act of sarcasm that the best adjective the ALP and LNP can come up with is a term that refers to exactly what they are: ‘parties’.”