Some time ago, I wrote a letter about a homeless man I met in Subiaco, and sent it to six serving politicians from three political parties. For a long time, I got very little response. A week ago, however, the Electorate Officer from the Office of Senator Bob brown, leader of the Greens party, wrote back.

Now the Greens are the third most powerful political force in Australia, although in terms of actual voting on bills, they have no more power than the various independent Senators or parties with a single member serving on the Senate - Labor can pass any bill they like in the upper house, and to get it through the lower house, they need support from either,/i> the Liberal party or from everyone else.

However, the Greens (formed a long time ago to campaign on environmental issues) have grown to a minor party with significant support among the public, views on multiple issues, and more media time than anyone outside Labor or the Liberal-National coalition.

Here's what the letter said.

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement and support. They are much appreciated.

Whilst Senator Brown and his colleagues have limited capacity to intervene directly in the lives of an individual like Peter, they are well aware of the factors that mitigate against his ability to participate fully in the life of his community and have consistently argued and campaigned for the removal of them and advocated alternatives to the current arrangements.

You can find examples of some of their work in this area via the following links : http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/taxonomy/term/175/all and http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/taxonomy/term/168/all.

Yours sincerely,

(Name deleted)
Electorate Officer
Office of Senator Bob Brown

Well, I checked the links, of course. While Bob Brown has made numerous statement about pensioners, it is Rachel Siewert who has the most to say about poverty in Australia. As far as I can tell, none of the things mentioned would greatly affect Peter's case. However, it is, no doubt, only a sample of what the Greens would like to see implemented.

In the meantime, today, a Centrelink employee in Canberra attempted to phone, in response to the copy of the letter sent to the Prime Minister. I missed the call, but they told my wife they would call back on Monday morning.

So you can look forward to another update soon!