Senator Fiona Nash, Deputy Leader of The Nationals in the Senate said that voters should be aware that today’s decision by the Greens to do a preference deal with the Labor Government means a vote for the Greens is a vote for Labor.
The deal will assist the Greens to win further seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives - despite the Leader of the Greens, Bob Brown, telling voters he is sick of backroom preference negotiations with other parties and for voters to make up their own minds.
“We have the ridiculous situation of Bob Brown and the Greens on the one hand doing a deal with Labor, and on the other hand saying voters can make up their own minds,” Senator Nash said.
“If Bob Brown is serious when he says he doesn’t like backroom preference negotiations with other parties then he shouldn’t have done a deal with Labor. At the end of the day a vote for the Greens means a vote for Labor.
Greens’ Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, was interviewed recently saying she did not care which of the major parties won the election, seemingly at odds now with her leader Bob Brown. There is no doubt, after today’s announcement, that the Greens will be backing Labor every step of the way.
“The people of Australia need to realise that if the Greens gain the balance of power in the Senate they will effectively be running the country.
“Every piece of legislation brought to the Senate by the Labor Government would need tick off by the Greens.”
“If people want a change of Government, which is what I am hearing from many of my constituents, then their vote will be wasted on the Greens,” Senator Nash said.