With the Greens holding the balance of power in Tasmania so government there in fact has two heads, and with the UK leadership split between ideologically-opposed parties, news from last night that the Greens' primary vote in Australia had lifted by four points, to 16 percent, should give us pause.

We're not very well-served by the media, however. News Ltd's Hobart Mercury does little enough to illustrate the stresses that must be playing on the Labor Party leadership as it negotiates government and administration with a strong-willed partner in the form of the Tasmanian Greens.

And that newspaper's sister publication, The Australian, is equally remiss in ignoring what's happening down south. The Greens' performance in Tasmania should be recounted nationally. It can serve as a guide for average Australians, many of whom are now contemplating, in polling answers at least, removing favour from the traditional big-two and bestowing it on the major alternative.

It's probably too much of an ask to predict an outright Greens win federally. The figures are just not showing such an outcome. But a divided leadership, a shared mandate, a joint venture in the busienss of government is certainly not beyong imagining for the Commonwealth.

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