FAITH, HAVE FAITH, FAITH GROWS WHEN YOU ACT WITHOUT KNOWING THE END RESULT.

I STILL CAN'T POST MY LINKS BACK UP HERE........GGGGRRRRRRRRRR......I WILL GET TO THE END OF IT EVENTUALLY!!


Greens grow into the new third force.........thanks to Megan Saunders and Helen ToblerAugust 30, 2004
THE Greens have emerged as the third political force in the 2004 federal campaign after steadily growing in strength in recent years to secure almost one-third of the vote in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne in recent state elections.They are also set to play the kingmakers in a tight election race between the ALP and the Coalition, with the crucial issue of where preferences will be directed yet to be decided.
But while support for the Greens has grown steadily over the past decade, the Democrats are on the track towards political oblivion.
Recent opinion polls give the Democrats between 2 and 4 per cent support, while the Greens, are sitting on between 10 and 12 per cent.
Three of the Democrats senators are up for re-election: Aden Ridgeway in NSW, John Cherry in Queensland and Brian Greig in Western Australia.

Leader Andrew Bartlett yesterday admitted the three senators may not be re-elected, leaving the party with only four seats in the upper house.
But despite the danger, he remained optimistic about the party's chances.
"With people having pre dicted the demise of the Democrats for so long -- and in the last couple of years saying we're heading for an electoral wipe-out -- we've got a tough job ahead of us, but it's wrong to say we don't have a chance," Senator Bartlett said.
Electoral support for the party has waned from a high of 10.82 per cent in 1996 to 7.25 per cent at the half-Senate election in 2001.
Over the same time, the Greens' stocks rose from 1.66 per cent to 4.38 per cent.
This election, neither of the Greens senators, Bob Brown from Tasmania and Kerry Nettle from NSW, are up for re-election.
Greens' federal campaign co-ordinator Andrew Burke said yesterday: "We can't go backwards in the Senate -- we can only grow."
"It's way ahead of where we have been coming into any other federal election."
While the Democrats are in danger of losing senators, the Greens hope to pick up at least three extra Senate spots and could potentially gain the balance of power in the upper house.
They also have to hold their only lower house seat, the NSW Illawarra seat of Cunningham, which Michael Organ won from the ALP in a 2002 by-election.
Former federal intelligence officer Andrew Wilkie is running as the most high-profile Greens candidate, against John Howard in the Sydney seat of Bennelong.
The Greens also hope to poll strongly in the ALP metropolitan seats of Sydney and Melbourne after securing about 29 per cent of the vote in recent state elections.
Logging of old-growth forests, the Kyoto protocol, public education funding, the war on Iraq and the treatment of asylum-seekers are key campaign issues for the Greens.
The party has yet to decide where it will send its preferences, but has previously directed them to the ALP ahead of the Coalition.
There are also three independents in the lower house: Calare MP Peter Andren and New England MP Tony Windsor from NSW, and disaffected former National MP Bob Katter in the Queensland seat of Kennedy.
Their votes will be crucial if the election results in a hung parliament.