Party will also preference Labor ahead of Coalition in every Senate seat, saying it wants to prevent a conservative government

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old





The Greens will preference the Labor party ahead of the Liberal and National parties in 139 of the 150 electorates across the country, including in all marginal seats.



They will also preference Labor ahead of the Coalition in every Senate seat.

The Greens say their local branches in the remaining 11 lower house seats did not want to instruct voters who to give preferences to, so they will be issuing open how-to-vote cards.

The Greens hopes of winning more than one lower house seat in the 2016 election were all but dashed over the weekend.

Liberals to get Labor preferences in three rural seats to fend off Nationals Read more

They had been hoping to win the Victorian seats of Batman, which is held by Labor’s gaffe-prone David Feeney, and Wills, held by the retiring Labor MP Kelvin Thomson.

But the Labor party secured a deal with the Liberals to get Liberal preferences ahead of the Greens in every lower house seat, making it much harder for the Greens to take those two seats.

Penny Allman-Payne, Australian Greens co-convenor, told Guardian Australia the Greens were disappointed that Labor ran “such a vicious attack against the Greens” and “lied about a Greens-Liberal preference deal” in this election campaign, but it was still better to give preferences to Labor ahead of the Coalition.

“At this election the Greens will be recommending to voters to preference the Labor party ahead of the Coalition in more seats than ever before,” Allman-Payne said.

“While we think the Labor party can do a lot better on the issues that matter to many Australians, like climate change and treating people seeking our help with decency, they are a better choice than the Liberals and Nationals,” she said.

“Our priority is to ensure a progressive Senate and to prevent a conservative government and this arrangement reflects that.”

The 11 seats in which the Greens will issue open tickets for preferences are:

NSW: Calare, Lyne, and Riverina

Tasmania: Denison

South Australia: Mayo, Barker, and Grey

Victoria: Hotham, Mallee, Scullin, and Ballarat

Labor was due to announce on Monday that it would give preferences to the Greens ahead of the Liberal and National parties in every lower and upper house seat.



It is a sign Labor believes it can now retain its hotly contested inner-city seats in Sydney and Melbourne for which the Greens have been challenging.

Labor had earlier secured a deal with the Liberals to get Liberal preferences ahead of the Greens in every lower house seat in return for Labor preferencing the Liberals ahead of the Nationals in three rural seats where both Coalition parties are standing.