Key facts
- The Greens will direct voters to put the Greens first and One Nation last in 15 electorates.
- The 15 seats include Albert Park, Ashwood, Bellarine, both Bendigo seats and South Barwon.
- Labor ran an open ticket in Prahran, held by the Liberals on a 1.3 per cent margin.
- Pollster Tony Barry said about 85% of exhausted Greens votes historically flow to Labor.
- Barry said the preference change might be enough to flip Essendon to the Liberals.
- Family First is directing preferences to Labor candidates affiliated with the SDA.
The Victorian Greens said on November 13 they would not direct preferences to Labor in 15 electorates at the November 28 state election, retaliating against Labor's decision to run an open ticket in the inner Melbourne seat of Prahran. The Greens said they would direct voters to number the Greens one and One Nation last across those seats.
Labor decided on November 10 to run an open ticket in Prahran, which the Liberals hold on a 1.3 per cent margin after the Greens lost it at a 2025 byelection. Greens leader Ellen Sandell said at the time that Labor's decision was unforgivable and could hand the election to a Liberal-One Nation coalition.
A Labor spokesperson said on November 13 that the Greens had done a dodgy deal to help elect a Liberal-One Nation government, calling it unforgivable and blaming Sandell and the Greens for any cuts to hospitals and schools under Jess Wilson. A Greens spokesperson said Labor had lied to Victorian voters and had done a dodgy backroom deal with the Liberals.
The 15 electorates are Albert Park, Ashwood, Bellarine, Bendigo East, Bendigo West, Essendon, Euroa, Gippsland East, Mildura, Mornington, Point Cook, Polwarth, South Barwon, Tarneit and Werribee. Labor fears the decision will particularly hurt its chances in Albert Park, Ashwood, Bellarine, the two Bendigo seats vacated by former premier Jacinta Allan and speaker Maree Edwards, and South Barwon.
Tony Barry, a Liberal strategist turned pollster with Redbridge, said most Greens voters do not closely follow how-to-vote cards. He said historical preference flows show about 85% of exhausted Greens votes flow to Labor and about 15% leak to the Coalition, and that this rarely changes. He said the change might be enough to flip Essendon, where Labor candidate Kat Theodosis is contesting the seat following Danny Pearson's retirement, in a race involving the Liberals, One Nation and three independents.
Family First is directing its preferences to Labor candidates affiliated with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, placing them second on its how-to-vote cards. Pascoe Vale MP Anthony Cianflone, in a tight race against the Greens' Angelica Panopoulos, said on social media that he supported women's right to make their own decisions about their bodies and healthcare.