Labor and the Greens may allow rightwing parties to assume balance of power positions in Victoria due to preference voting deals they are making according to some progressive groups.



Labor has the edge in opinion polls to win the lower house in Saturday’s Victorian election but the composition of the upper house, the Legislative Council, is likely to be a diverse mix of parties.

A total of 351 candidates are running in the eight regions that make up the upper house, with 40 seats up for grabs in total. The number of parties contesting seats has doubled to 21 from the last election.

Complex tactical preference deals struck by Labor and the Greens have angered some progressive minor parties, which feel votes should rightfully flow to them.

The Greens have preferenced the Palmer United party relatively highly in some regions, while Labor has preferenced Family First above a selection of left-wing candidates in some regions and has placed the pro-hunting Country Alliance above all other parties in eastern Victoria.

The Shooters and Fishers party could win a seat in Victoria’s eastern division, due to favourable preferences, while the Greens have preferenced the Sex party highly in the northern metropolitan division, despite the party’s stated support in the past for the controversial East West toll road, which the Greens oppose.

The final makeup of the upper house is likely to prove an interesting negotiating challenge for Labor if it does manage to oust the Coalition government.

Bruce Poon, convenor of the Animal Justice party, said Labor and the Greens had done deals with parties that “aren’t really in line with their values”.

“If voters want to see their vote go to parties that share their values, they have to take control themselves,” he said. “These deals are tactical in nature and we understand them but it’s taking voters’ intentions away from them. There is a case for reform of the group voting tickets to take power back from the parties.

“I think we’ll get a diverse upper house, which is a good thing, but I’d prefer it to be across the progressive spectrum. We want to protect animals, so the Shooters and Fishers party, for example, would be disastrous. “

Peter Allan, an independent candidate, said he had written to 10,000 voters in the northern metropolitan region asking them to vote for Labor or the Greens in the lower house but to change their votes in the upper house to avoid rightwing micro-parties being elected.

Another candidate, prominent anti-domestic violence campaigner Phil Cleary, criticised Labor’s preferencing of Family First.

“There are too many dodgy deals and the parliament is in danger of becoming unworkable,” he said. “I hope and trust many Labor or Green voters will see sense and come my way in the Legislative Council.”

Greg Barber, leader of the Victorian Greens, said the Greens preferenced progressive minor parties ahead of Labor in many instances.

“We want to preference parties that have some policies in common with us and there’s a short list of those,” he said. “I can’t say I’ve vetted each one of these parties’ policy positions.”

Labor and the Greens have, however, not done any preference deals with the far right Rise Up Australia party. A candidate for the party, Rosalie Crestani, has vowed to take a local council to the Equal Opportunity Commission over its mentioning of same sex relationships, which she claims discriminates against heterosexuals.

Crestani said the Casey council had run diversity training that discriminated against heterosexuals as well as “displaying notices by a non-heterosexual lobby group on its notice-boards, again in a manner calculated to discriminate against and intimidate heterosexuals”.