http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/13599857/greens-choose-tas-banker-for-the-senate/

The Australian Greens have chosen a former merchant banker-turned winemaker and conservationist to fill retiring leader Bob Brown's Tasmanian Senate seat.

Peter Whish-Wilson will take up the casual vacancy in the next few months, once Senator Brown decides on his retirement date and the Tasmanian parliament holds a joint sitting to approve the move.

The 44-year-old vineyard owner formerly worked for Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, the United States and Australia.

He has been a strong opponent of Gunns' proposed pulp mill in Tasmania's north, near his family-owned winery.

The Greens, who have nine senators following the 2010 election, are seeking to broaden their appeal under new leader Christine Milne, who also hails from Tasmania.

Mr Whish-Wilson said one of his aims was to build bridges between the party, the environmental movement and the business sector, as well as develop better relations with rural Australia.

"I've got a lot of experience in how corporations work," Mr Whish-Wilson told reporters in Hobart on Friday.

"I believe that it's time to start putting all the divisiveness aside ... and focus on how we can get conservation issues that are (for) everyone's benefit."

With an economics degree from the Australian Defence Force Academy and no record of arrest, unlike his Senate predecessor, Mr Whish-Wilson has been described by some as a "light green".

"Light green, dark green, it's all green. It's all good as far as I'm concerned," he said.

"I think it's just a label."

Senator Brown said it was an ideal choice.

"He has a multiple gold-medal winning vineyard ... and he'll be a gold medal senator for Tasmania," Senator Brown said.

Australian National University political academic John Warhurst said the new senator appeared to fit in with the Greens' broader strategy.

Professor Warhurst said Senator Milne, who recently conducted a tour of rural and regional Australia, had been working to broaden the party's support base beyond metropolitan Australia.

"It fits in with that," Prof Warhurst said.
"The Greens' vote has got to be made up of light greens and dark greens, so if they have senators who appeal across as wide a spectrum as possible then that suits their long-term interest."

The Greens are renewing with qualified and respected candidates that will lead the party into the future.
If the Democrats had done the same thing instead of endorsing dodgy wierdos and bored middle aged hippy pensioners they may still be around.
Compare Whish-Wilson with Barnaby Joyce, Angry Anderson, Clive Palmer, Bill Heffernan and the other assorted jokes the major parties put up as model citizens and members of the parties and you will see the only decent party with professional candidates with an eye to the future is the Greens.

adelcrow wrote on May 5^th, 2012 at 10:42am:

The Greens are renewing with qualified and respected candidates that will lead the party into the future. If the Democrats had done the same thing instead of endorsing dodgy wierdos and bored middle aged hippy pensioners they may still be around. Compare Whish-Wilson with Barnaby Joyce, Angry Anderson, Clive Palmer, Bill Heffernan and the other assorted jokes the major parties put up as model citizens and members of the parties and you will see the only decent party with professional candidates with an eye to the future is the Greens.

This compares to the not respected and unqualified candidates that has gone before