It hasn’t turned up yet at electionleflets.org.au but according to this thread at Mess & Noise there is a leaflet being distributed in Melbourne which says ”Make no mistake – A vote for any other party in Melbourne risks handing government to Tony Abbott and the Liberals”. So Labor are flat out trying to deceive people about the voting system to scare them away from voting Green. This is pathetic. It’s obviously no coincidence that it’s coming out at the last minute when there is little time for a response.
Suppose you are in Melbourne, want to vote Green, and definitely don’t want Tony Abbott to get in. The basic point is that the Liberals have no chance whatsoever in Melbourne. For them to win they would firstly have to outpoll the Greens, and secondly pick up the preferences of pretty much every Greens voter. It’s not going to happen. And what’s more you changing your first preference between Greens & Labor isn’t going to change it even if it would happen. For the Liberals to win it would mean that even if all Greens voters who preferred Labor to Liberals switched their first preference back to Labor then they would still fall short – otherwise these preferences would elect them when the Greens are eliminated anyway. But once again, this is not a realistic scenario in the first place.
If you vote Green and preference Labor ahead of the Liberals then there’s two realistic possibilities. Either your first preferences helps to elect Adam Bandt for the Greens after the Liberals are eliminated (if enough of their preferences go to Bandt), or Bandt gets eliminated and your preference for Labor helps to elect them.
The other thing they might be suggesting is that if Bandt wins then he could support an Abbott Government in a hung parliament – something he has clearly stated that he will not do.
The Greens candidate for the electorate of Melbourne has confirmed he would side with Labor if he wins the seat and the parliament is hung. Despite expressing disappointment about Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s positions on climate change and asylum seekers, Greens candidate Adam Bandt yesterday said he would work with Labor to deliver a ”stable, progressive and effective” government.
”Tony Abbott’s conservative positions on many areas, including women’s rights, climate change and our rights at work, do not reflect the views of the Melbourne electorate,” Mr Bandt said. ”It is clear – and I expect the election will confirm – that an overwhelming majority of people in Melbourne do not want an Abbott government.”
This tactic from Labor shows a real contempt for the voters of Melbourne and may well backfire on them.