Former Senator Andrew Bartlett announced today that he’s running for the Greens at the next Federal Election for the seat of Brisbane.

I’d usually never endorse a Greens Candidate, but having met Bartlett once (and spoken opposite him at the first Australian Blogging Conference in Brisbane), and as a reader of his blog, I’ve found him to be perhaps one of the most articulate, smart (in a good way) politicians I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting or reading.

This is not to say that I agree with everything he stands for, because simply I don’t. But having met my decent share of Federal and State Ministers over the years, having worked in Government/ politics for many years, Bartlett still remains the guy I least expected to be impressive, and yet walked away maybe not quite flawed by, but highly impressed by.

He’s a guy that not only has a strong grasp of issues, but fundamentally believes what he says…which is a rare quality in Australian politics. I’ve always believed that Australian politics was the less for him not being in Canberra, and although I’ll grit my teeth at the idea that a Greens candidate should be elected to the Reps, if there has to be one, make it Andrew Bartlett.

I probably should add: he’d also be a passionate and articulate advocate of new media.

But why the Greens!

If it was another party I might even be tempted to jump on a plane and spend a week helping his campaign. But the Greens are quickly becoming the party of political prostitution in Australia, and we need look no further than Clive Hamilton running for the party in Higgins.

That would be the same Clive Hamilton who is one of the most outspoken people in favor of Internet censorship. Hamilton is a Grade A village idiot on all things pro-censorship, and is perhaps one of the most moronic, stupid commentators this country has…which is why he writes for Crikey 😉

The Greens say they’re against internet censorship, and yet they endorse one of its most vocal supporters. You tell me what’s wrong with that 🙂

Andrew Bartlett could and should do better than the greens, and that’s the only negative I’d add on him running again at the next election.