THE grimy, inner-western Sydney suburb of Newtown may seem an odd place for the Greens to launch their NSW election campaign, but the spiritual home of urban greenies gave federal leader Bob Brown ample support yesterday.

For the first time, the Greens are standing candidates in all 93 NSW lower-house electorates and are expected to mount strong challenges to Labor candidates in the inner-west Sydney seats of Balmain and Marrickville. They are hoping to improve on their 8.5per cent vote in the 2003 poll.

Greens MP in the NSW upper house Lee Rhiannon said the more Greens who were in parliament the better, as they could hold the Government and Opposition to account.

THE grimy, inner-western Sydney suburb of Newtown may seem an odd place for the Greens to launch their NSW election campaign, but the spiritual home of urban greenies gave federal leader Bob Brown ample support yesterday.

Senator Brown claimed to rousing cheers that the Greens were the cutting-edge party for the 21st century, providing much-needed hope, optimism and vision in the poll. He said he loved the feeling of being among Greens, in the midst of people who were giving their energies to help those who would come after.

“Will you vote for your children?” he said. “Will NSW be a safe, clean, happy place to live in for your children because of the acts of NSW politicians?

“The answer with Labor is no, it won’t. The answer with Liberals is no, it won’t.”

As the cheering in the New Theatre died down, images ran together in an odd collage. “Love Greens Stop Homophobia” flashed on to a screen behind the stage while a hip-hop style soundtrack chanted “Green solutions” and the audience waved bright green signs saying “No New Coal Mines”.

Their campaign slogan, almost impossible to miss, was “Vote for tomorrow, today”.

For the first time, the Greens are standing candidates in all 93 NSW lower-house electorates and are expected to mount strong challenges to Labor candidates in the inner-west Sydney seats of Balmain and Marrickville. They are hoping to improve on their 8.5per cent vote in the 2003 poll.

Among the policies announced was a $300 million wind and jobs transition fund designed to kick-start wind technology manufacturing industries near coal-mining-dependent communities in the Illawarra and Hunter Valley.

There was also a pledge to establish a government-run “Green Roofs” scheme to provide interest-free loans for environmentally friendly hot-water systems. Theaim is to install 2.6million such systems by 2022.

Interest-free loans for householders to buy and install their own rainwater tanks were also on the agenda, with the aim of having 500,000 installations by2015.

Greens MP in the NSW upper house Lee Rhiannon said the more Greens who were in parliament the better, as they could hold the Government and Opposition to account.

She defended preferencing Labor in 24 marginal seats in NSW, despite bad-mouthing the party during the campaign launch for its links to the coal industry.