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2006 State
Election Preferences
The ALP claims the Greens teamed up with the
Liberals in the 2006 state election. This is
despite the Greens suggesting to voters in 60
lower house (Legislative Assembly) seats to give
preferences to the ALP, and in 28 other seats
they suggested voters should make up their own
minds as to who they gave their preferences to.
In all Upper House seats in the 2006 State
election all Greens preferences were directed to
go to the ALP ahead of the Liberal Party. The
Greens did not preference the Liberal Party
ahead of the ALP in any upper house or lower
house seat in the 2006 State election. Most
importantly, the result of the election proved
that the ALP did not lose government or any seat
as a result of any Greens vote flowing to the
Liberal Party. Doesn't sound like the Greens and
the Liberals are ganging up on Labor, does
it?!
It is important to note that a how to vote
card merely suggests to voters who the voter
should give their preferences to. In the Lower
House no party has control over where a voter's
preferences go. Once voters enter a polling
booth neither the Greens nor any other party has
any way of determining which party the voters'
preferences flow to. Preferential
voting is fully explained here. Yet
the ALP claims the Greens "gave half their
preferences in 24 Legislative Assembly seats to
the Liberal Party". This is easily proved to be
nonsense. For starters, the Greens can not "give
their preferences" to anyone. They are not
theirs to give.
But did the Greens ever request voters to
preference the Liberal Party ahead of Labor?
Let's look at the Greens how to vote cards for
the 2006 election:
- In 60 out of 88 Lower House seats the
Greens suggested that voters give their
preferences to the ALP ahead of the
Liberals.
- In 28 out of 88 Lower House seats the
Greens suggested that voters make up their
own minds as to which major party deserved
voter's preferences (i.e. Greens did not
prefer either party over the other).
- In 8 out of 8 Upper house seats the
Greens suggested that voters give their
preferences to the ALP.
- In no seat in Victoria did the Greens
suggest that voters should preference the
Liberal Party ahead of the ALP.
By any measure the Greens how to vote cards
overwhelmingly favoured Labor over Liberal.
Indeed, the ALP was elected with a large
majority in part due to preferences flowing from
Green voters.
The ALP also complains that in the 2006 State
election the Liberal Party directed voters to
preference the Greens ahead of the ALP in a
small number of seats. This is not news. The
Liberals did in the same at the 2002 State
Election, the 2004 Federal election and pretty
much every election the Greens have ever run in.
The Liberal's motivation for doing so is to
increase the possibility of the ALP losing
seats. That is a logical strategy. The Liberal
Party would be happy to see the ALP lose the
seat of Melbourne.
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