Advance is Exposed in Macnamara

The organisation may be enabling the Greens Party they profess to oppose.

Greens Party policy platform (Photo: Tony Lupton)

A Bit Of Election Background

In this federal election, the electorate of Macnamara is being hotly contested by Labor, the Greens and the Liberals. The seat, whether under its previous name of Melbourne Ports or currently, has always been held by the Labor Party. In the last fifteen years or so, the Greens Party has steadily increased its percentage of the vote, to the point where it has challenged Labor on primary votes.

At the 2022 election, after minor candidates preferences were distributed, Labor only beat the Greens by 595 votes. While the Liberals got a similar primary vote to the other two parties, Labor won comfortably in the end on Greens preferences. But this disguises the fact that if another 300 people had voted Greens, Labor would have been eliminated and their preferences would have elected the Greens candidate.

Because no candidate will get a majority of votes in their own right in Macnamara, the seat will be decided on preferences. How people fill in their ballot is up to them, no matter what any political party recommends on a how-to-vote-card. The preferences of the third placed candidate will be distributed, not those who finish first or second on primaries. So the preferences of the third placed candidate will decide the winner.

If Labor’s Josh Burns finishes ahead of the Greens again, as he did in 2019 and 2022, he will win. If the Greens candidate finishes ahead of Burns, she will win unless a large number of Labor voters preference the Liberals ahead of the Greens on their ballot paper. While I recommend they do this, I have to admit it’s unlikely the majority will.

Labor voters have been told for decades the Liberals are the enemy (and vice versa). For many years, when elections were a two-way contest, this was true. But not any more. I now characterise the distinction differently. The Liberals are Labor’s opponents. The Greens are Labor’s enemy. It follows that Labor voters should preference the Liberals before the Greens.

The reasons for this are twofold. The Greens are now the main challenger to Labor in numerous seats and have won some of them. But more than that, the Greens have the avowed aim of taking over the Labor Party and destroying it. This would not only be a disaster for the Labor Party, it would be a disaster for the country, because the Greens have become an extremist party.

They are aligned with Islamist extremists, offering a safe space for anti-Semites. The party backs some of the world’s most violent, tyrannical, misogynist, anti-gay and racist regimes. They claim to be progressive but are the exact opposite of progressive.

Tony campaigning in the Prahran by-election (Photo: Tony Lupton)

The Problem With Advance

Most voters in Macnamara, for a variety of reasons, don’t want the Greens to win. At the last election, around 70% of the electorate voted for another candidate.

Defeating the Greens in Macnamara isn't complicated. It just requires enough people to vote for Josh Burns to ensure the Greens finish third. Job done.

Anyone who honestly has defeating the Greens as their aim would support that approach. It’s the safest way. The only alternative, attempting to elect a Liberal, is not likely to succeed.

In Macnamara, Advance is supporting the group calling itself Put The Greens Last, whose ostensible purpose is to defeat the Greens.

But their overzealous campaigners are attempting to drive up the Liberal vote at the expense of Burns, advocating outright for the Liberal candidate and playing right into the hands of the Greens.

This increases the risk of Burns finishing below the Greens on primary votes. If that happens, the likelihood is that the Greens will win.

Advance and their campaigners should acknowledge that Labor polling more votes than the Greens, thereby eliminating them, is the safest and surest way to defeat the Greens, rather than a riskier strategy favouring the Liberals.

Why employ such a high risk strategy? It may not be a coincidence that Advance received a $500,000 donation from the Cormack Foundation, the Liberal Party funding entity, in the 2023-24 reporting period.

I'm determined to get rid of the Greens from our parliaments, which means putting our country ahead of party. As a former Labor MP, I did that in the Prahran by-election, by getting enough votes and explaining why people should preference the Liberal Party and not the Greens. Enough people did and my preferences flipped the seat from Green to Liberal. That's what happened in Prahran. The Put The Greens Last campaigners didn't do it. If I hadn't run the Greens would have won.

In Macnamara, I'm encouraging Labor voters to put the Greens (and Palmer and One Nation) below the Liberals.

This would provide an insurance policy against a Greens victory in the event that the Greens Party finishes ahead of Labor. Labor voters should do this because it’s the right thing to do for our country. And it’s also the right thing to do for the Labor Party.

Whatever the Labor how-to-vote-card recommends, each voter should fill out their ballot according to their own preference. I don't mind whether people voting for Josh Burns put the Greens below Clive Palmer and One Nation or above them, so long as the Liberal Party is above all of those parties. That sends the message that all these fringe groups are beyond the pale.

If Burns receives enough votes his preferences won't be distributed. The Greens will be defeated. Labor preferences have never been distributed in Macnamara or the previous Melbourne Ports.

Liberals and Labor supporters should take the safest way to defeat the Greens in Macnamara. Vote for Josh Burns. Then take out an insurance policy. Put the Liberals above the Greens, One Nation and Clive Palmer.

ReplyForward

Add reaction