But, with November's election looming, the main game now is strategy: how does the party convince inner-city voters to come back from the Greens? Labor's campaign committee must soon settle on a plan and while all agree it should contain a mix of positive narrative-telling and negative attacks, there are two broad views about how this should play out. The first is in line with Fiona Richardson's opinion, and personified by tactics employed by her husband, Stephen Newnham, when he was the ALP's state secretary. In short, the strategy aims to expose the Greens as an anti-Labor party that is intent on destroying the ALP and has done, and will do, deals with the conservatives. This approach seeks to muddy the Greens brand, to show Labor voters they are not opting for benign Bambi-like anti-politicians. This strategy tries to expose the party as purveyors of extreme left policies, to warn people that Greens policies - such as backing for supervised injecting rooms, death taxes and withdrawal of support for selective schools - are dangerous. ''My view is that they are a threat to the sort of society I believe in - which is a fairer and more sustainable society underpinned by a well-run economy,'' one senior Labor MP told The Sunday Age. ''I see them as a greater threat to us than the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party is not attacking us in our safe seats, but they are.'' The message also says: the Greens are not a movement, not a brand, not a cause, but a political party. This Labor view wants you to know the Greens are, despite their anti-major-parties rhetoric, still politicians. This is why Premier John Brumby and his ministers talk of ''The Greens Political Party''.

This approach points to Newnham's tactics in the Victorian 2006 election and the 2007 Albert Park byelection. In the dying weeks of these campaigns, Newnham produced negative material against the Greens, some of which stretched credulity. Newnham's supporters say these tactics in 2006 saved Bronwyn Pike from losing Melbourne. Some Greens privately admit the negative campaigns may shave a few per cent off their vote. But for Labor the question is: do these tactics work long-term? The opposing view in the party says no, they don't and the jury is now in. Adam Bandt is now the federal member for Melbourne and Richard Di Natale will be a Victorian senator next year. The Greens vote has done nothing but inflate. The opposing view, expounded by people on the left and right of the factional divide, is that these tactics are actually damaging Labor and make little sense to voters who have left the fold. It's a bit like a man who says to his wife: ''You fool! You've run off with a dangerous idiot who has hoodwinked you, now come back immediately!'' Many senior Labor strategists believe inner-city voters have run off for good reason, and that reason is to send the party a message. ''People have marked us and the problem is not with the Greens, it is with Labor. Attacking their policies misses the point,'' said one senior Labor insider who subscribes to this view. ''They want to have their values reflected in Labor policies.''

Labor proponents of the second view believe the Greens should not get away with defining themselves as ''Labor Plus'' - particularly because their promises mean little if they cannot form government in their own right. They say Labor needs to better promote its achievements in terms of social justice, decriminalising abortion, broader access to IVF, the transport plan and the climate change target. Premier John Brumby appears to share this view, recently talking about the good ''story'' he has to tell inner-city voters, particularly around climate change. Monash University political lecturer Paul Strangio sympathises with the second camp of Labor thinking. ''Threats and scare tactics about the Greens forming an alliance with the Liberal Party are not going to win over these people,'' he said. ''They're generally a savvy lot and you need to win them over in policy terms, impress them with your agenda. ''The Greens phenomenon is here to stay, there's no doubt about that. It's very early to say what the continuing growth lines will be, but for Labor its response should be about philosophical clarity, about a willingness to argue policies over the long-term in a convincing, persuasive way.'' The problem for Labor is that, at this stage, no one really has any data on why its supporters are turning Green. What is really driving them? Is it simply a protest or a more permanent shift? The only snippet of evidence is the Climate Institute's exit poll at the federal election, which found almost a third of Green voters would have voted Labor had it not shelved its emission trading scheme. When the dust of the federal poll settles, Labor strategists will send researchers into voter land to find answers to these questions through polls and focus groups. Whatever the final strategy, at November's end what works and what doesn't will at least be a little clearer.