Labor's primary vote has dropped dramatically over the past three elections, falling to 41 per cent in 2013. Greens candidate for Batman Alex Bhathal. Credit:Facebook Alex Bhathal is once again the Greens' candidate. She won 26.4 per cent of the primary vote at the last election. The Liberal Party has not confirmed if it will preference the Greens but it is exploring the option. It had been mooted that, in return, the Greens would run open tickets in key marginal seats that would stymie Labor's chance.

But Greens MP Adam Bandt denied there was any deal. Labor MP David Feeney said the US has unnerved its allies. Credit:Brendan Esposito The Melbourne MP said it was clear that Labor was "desperately pleading for Liberal preferences to hang on to their inner-city seats". "Unlike Labor, the Greens won't be preferencing the Liberals," Mr Bandt said. "There's only one party preferencing the Liberals and that's Labor. At every election some Greens branches run an 'open ticket', saying 'vote 1 Greens and decide the rest yourself' and I expect that will happen again this election." Mr Feeney said it was no surprise that the Greens and Liberals were doing a deal, adding that the party had known for some time that it would have to fight hard to retain the seat.

"We are convinced that the coalition between the Liberals and Greens will deeply offend Liberal and Greens supporters and strengthen Labor's case as an alternative government with a progressive vision for Australia," Mr Feeney said. The MP attacked the Greens for denying a deal, saying the party needed to be honest with its supporters and the community about how a deal with the Liberals fitted in with Greens' values. "A vote for the Greens is effectively a vote for Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals," Mr Feeney said. "It will also insure that Mr [Peter] Dutton will remain Immigration Minister." The ALP will seek revenge in other seats by running open tickets in Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer's seat of Higgins and the corresponding state seat of Prahran, which the Greens won in 2014.

Open tickets in Prahran would all but kill off MP Sam Hibbins' chances of re-election and that strategy would be retaliation for the Greens running open tickets in key suburban seats Labor is trying to win or retain. Labor will also preference the Nationals in Murray, which will hurt the Liberals' chances of retaining the country seat. "We will treat the inner city as a battlefield of opportunity," a senior Labor source said. But the exploration of preferencing the Greens threatens to seriously divide the Liberal Party – especially at a grassroots level. Many members are vehemently anti-Green and the idea of a assisting them win seats infuriates them.

But some see the strategic value in making Labor squirm in inner-city seats in the hope that campaign resources will be directed away from Labor's attempts to take Liberal marginal seats. On Monday the Labor secured a small victory with the Sex Party promising to send preferences to the ALP in inner-city seats. HOW BATMAN HAS VOTED: 2013 Primary:

David Feeney (ALP) 41.3 %

Alex Bhathal (GRN) 26.4 %

George Souris (LIB) 22.4 % Two party preferred: Feeney 60.6%

Bhathal: 39.4% 2010 Primary:

Martin Ferguson (ALP) 52.4%

Alex Bhathal (GRN) 23.5%

George Souris (LIB) 19.9% TPP: Ferguson 57.9%

Bhathal 42.1% 2007 Primary: