A deeply divided Australia has found common ground in a shared feeling of complete exhaustion brought on by the federal election, before its even been fucking called.

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[–] Nath@aussie.zone 5 points 4 months ago (10 children)

Greens get a steady 15-20% percent of voters just about everywhere around the nation (except Melbourne where it's higher). Not enough to win a seat, but enough that their preferences are extremely valuable. But Greens have nobody else to give those preferences to - at the end of the day the Liberal party is less compatible to Green policies than Labor is.

It would actually be a strong signal one election for those preferences to go somewhere else. Labor won't get elected without those preferences - but they seem to take them for granted. One Nation do it from time to time and they only get 2-5% of the vote. Some elections, they give their preferences to the non-sitting member (Liberal candidate if sitting member was Labor/Labor if the sitting member was Liberal). One election, it was enough to tip the balance.

15-20% of the vote is plenty enough to get representation in the senate, of course.

Greens need a re-brand. They are seen by older voters as one-trick ponies. Caring solely about the environment and not having any policies on anything else. That's not true of course, but their marketing sucks. If they could actually articulate their positions to voters somehow, I think far more voters would realise they align with Green policies.

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I don't really see it as a preference issue. Greens are likely to lose their Queensland seats at the coming election, but they have a good chance of winning Melbourne Ports, Cooper and Wills in Victoria. Four seats is a lot of bargaining power if both parties fall short of a majority.

My hope is actually that the Liberals, in those three seats, preference Greens over Labor to try and pull some seats away from them. Their preferences alone would handily get Greens over the line.

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 2 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I don’t really see it as a preference issue.

Just about every election (well, not at the moment in WA ha!) comes down to preferences.

Their preferences alone would handily get Greens over the line.

See? You actually agree that preferences make a big difference. The issue is that the Liberal party would prefer to see a Labor candidate in a seat over a Green party member. So, if they saw a possibility that the Greens might take a seat, they wouldn't give Green their preferences.

The biggest problem I see for the Greens is that Labor has no incentive to actually court Green preferences. They assume Greens will always preference them over Liberal, because they always have. They can take those preferences for granted.

[–] judasferret@aussie.zone 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Y'all know the voter sets the preferences on their ballet, not the party right?

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Of course I do. 😀
But the parties give out those "how to vote" cards at every ballot point for a reason: most voters use them. Which means that the party does set the preferences.

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