Labor and the Greens have been locked in an unofficial coalition for decades.

Recently, they have been joined by the Teals, creating an unholy trinity of political representatives who subscribe to a religion loosely based in environmentalism but practically rooted in fascistic behaviour.

It has been a long time since the Greens were genuine tree-huggers while the closest the Teals get to nature are comfortable strolls beneath the English trees that shade their wealthy north shore sidewalks.

The Teals are losing ground, but not the Greens. They have their thorns in the minds of our young.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt has made some outrageous comments recently, painting the leader of our largest and most powerful political ally as ‘a danger to peace and a danger to democracy’. He went further, ‘We should be rethinking our relationship with Trump’s US, not sucking up to him.’

Such reckless insanity is harmless at the fringes, but the Greens have cuddled close to power. Their influence is more than a corruption of our historic norms, it’s a hostage-holding of the ruling party.

The public – already fed up with Anthony Albanese , Jim Chalmers, Penny Wong, and perhaps worst of all, Chris Bowen – are keen to see a change of government but they are also wary of a minority government lorded over by the Greens.

While the Teals lay low and pretend to be ‘conservative’ to maintain stewardship of Blue Ribbon seats, the Greens advertise their power.

‘Greens pressure works!’ declared Adam Bandt recently, attempting to take credit for Labor’s latest hollow moral cause – alleged supermarket price gouging.

‘By voting Greens, we can keep Dutton out and get Labor to act.’

Mr Bandt couldn’t make things much clearer.

Albanese tripped up on the subject, saying: ‘In spite of the 385 times that I have said we would not govern in coalition with anyone, including the Greens … just be really clear again, if you ask me, Do you rule out governing in coalition with the Greens? the answer is no.’

He followed it up by saying, ‘I don’t negotiate with the Greens, my campaign team in Grayndler is about campaigning against the Greens and I’m very confident that we will be successful.’

The hovering flock of media supervisors added: ‘The Prime Minister unequivocally ruled out a deal with the Greens today and every day for the last three years.’

And yet the Greens are under the impression that they hold power over Labor. More importantly, the public believe Albanese and the Labor Party are beholden to the Greens.

Sensibly, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has sought to repeat his opponent’s error far and wide. He said yesterday:

‘I have seen Mr Albanese’s comments about working with the Greens for him to stay in power. Let me be clear: a vote for Labor is a vote for a chaotic Albanese-Greens alliance.

‘It’s a recipe for higher taxes, weak borders, and reckless energy policies that would hurt Australian families and small businesses. The Greens are an extreme party. They want to decriminalise hard drugs like Heroin and Ice, and weaken our national security.

‘Mr Albanese would clearly do a deal with them just to cling to power. Only the Coalition can deliver a stable government focused on a strong economy, low inflation, affordable homes, and safer communities.’

To be fair, politicians, of all stripes, will make all manner of deals to hold onto power.

The era of faux morality is over. We seem them all for what they are and understand that almost everything we are promised is either a short-term sweetener, riddled with undeclared terms and conditions, or an outright lie. That Labor attempted to double-dip on its energy bill mischief is proof that they have no shame.

It is unclear why the press have labelled Mr Albanese’s comments a gaffe when they could better be described as a Freudian slip.

One thing remains true… A vote for Labor is a vote for the Greens. That is frightening.

Flat White is written by Alexandra Marshall. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.