Greens MPs

We're pleased to present some new features here on GreensMPs - this new site for the Greens Senators was always a work in progress, and we still have a few things up our sleeve.

You'll notice a few additions to the site;

• Events - keep up to date with functions, events & important dates.
• Forums - take part in discussion on a variety of topics.
• Petitions - put your name to important petitions run through GreensMPs.
• Polls - make your vote count here on various issues.
• Tip-offs - keep your GreensMPs informed on important issues, totally anonymously.
• Links - branch out into our best picks of the world wide web.

American psychiatrists have confirmed the existence of SAD – seasonal affective disorder. They get SAD in winter. A bright light by the desk helps offset this malady. I suffer WOW – winter-only wellbeing.

Winter – snow on the mountain, ice on the ponds, a fireside book and hot Tamar Valley wine – sets off the whole celebratory year. My anxiety is triggered by the idea of NOT having four seasons set off each year by winter. I thought of this when visiting an old friend in Launceston General Hospital’s psychiatric ward 1E.

Contrary to the theory of sunshine cheer, there is no view outside at all, nor natural light, and all doors need be locked. How can we get undepressed in such an environment? The staff need medals.

It's been noted a few times - in comments and in direct emails to the moderators - that there has been quite a lull in the use of GreensBlog recently. This is sad but true, and I just wanted to briefly explain it.

As well as working with the new Senators and their teams and preparing for the avalanche that is about to come with the shifting balance of power in the new Senate, a fair chunk of our time recently has been dedicated to preparing a new website for the 5 Greens Senators that will encompass each of their sites, an umbrella site, newsroom, galleries, videos, parliamentary archive and, of course, the blog itself.

We are extremely confident, as the new site begins to take shape, that it will provide you, the users, with a much better service in terms of both finding out the Greens position in detail and commenting on it, making your views heard, contributing to the democratic process! It will also, I might add, be a lot easier for us to use than our current outdated mishmash of sites...

Tonight's the night that the Rudd Government deliver their first federal budget, and the Greens are currently in lock-up, pouring over every detail and analysing every last line.
Keep an eye on this spot - after 7:30 tonight, when the doors open, we'll have more details live blogged here.

I've been somewhat troubled recently by the growing tendency of some commenters to launch personal attacks, use the comments threads as venues for spurious cricitisms, and turn the threads into quite unpleasant and personal arguments.

The blogosphere has played a key role in shaping how this campaign has been perceived, particularly in terms of shining a clear light on poll results and trends. Its next challenge is how it covers election night itself. My hope is that it can offer some serious analysis to help inform the mainstream media's coverage, both on the night and the morning after.

Mark Bahnisch at Larvatus Prodeo kindly gave me space for this guest post today to talk about GreensBlog.

The post is pasted below, too, and I'd love to hear from people about what you'd like to see from GreensBlog.

So, we're finally getting started with the official Greens Party blog!

The idea of this blog is for Greens Senators, their staff and other key players in the party to be able to start discussions about Greens issues, policies or politics, put our view on major events in Australia and the world, and to discuss them openly and freely with others.

As a party based on the idea of grassroots democracy, we value all constructive contributions to our discussions. As such, we hope to see vibrant comments threads.

But we will moderate the comments to keep out abuse and trolling.

Welcome!

Tim