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For minor party candidates like him, such preference-swapping deals are the only possible foundation stone for a tilt at a Senate seat. He had had some good results, with Phil Cleary's Independent Australia and Liberals for Forests promising to direct preferences to him before the Democrats. Meanwhile, even the unsuccessful negotiations with the DLP and Unity had been enjoyable.
"These discussions were on the basis of policy similarity and making a difference," said the 40-year-old father of four, and long-time lobbyist against genetically engineered food. At 9pm, as he got into his car for the 90-minute drive to his new family home in central Victoria, Mr Kinnear was still optimistic about the Green Senate candidates' chances of receiving Labor preferences. But when he phoned Drew Hutton, co-chairman of the Greens national preferences committee for an update, he heard the news about the Labor Party-Democrats deal.
"We're in trouble," Mr Hutton said. Democrat senators would get all Labor preferences, except in Western Australia and Tasmania, while the Democrats would give preferences to Labor in 15 marginal lower house seats. The Green candidate's election prospects were suddenly looking bleak.
"We don't believe in giving preferences away for nothing," said Mr Kinnear, still fuming a week later. "We want policy shifts on social justice, policy shifts on the environment policy." The candidate was angry with the Democrats, but furious with the ALP.
"We stood by them in opposing the GST and the industrial relations legislation - which the Democrats and the Liberal Party put through," he said. The next day Mr Kinnear decided to crash the ALP regional and rural policy launch in Ballarat, to make that very point.
Scott Kinnear bears no resemblance to the tie-died dreadlocked ferals whom some voters might expect to find under the Green party banner. The agricultural science graduate understands the stereotype, noting that people confuse "green with greenie". He always wears a suit and a carefully chosen tie (gold one day, silver another).
He knew his neat navy suit would smooth relations with the Federal Police guarding the Ballarat Civic Hall launch. Having ascertained that he wasn't planning to throw anything, the officers allowed him so close to the Labor leader that he didn't even have to shout for Kim Beazley to hear his reproaches.
Later, Mr Kinnear joined the media scrum, repeating his rebuke for the benefit of Saturday evening's news. "I was very polite," Mr Kinnear said. "I didn't interrupt."
Then, last Monday a "Robyn from Geelong" called in to ABC 774 talkback, claiming that the Greens had taken donations from the CFMEU, which represents forestry workers. Mr Kinnear called in to clarify that, in a previous election, the party had accepted money from the union's green-minded construction division, but never from its forestry section. He was outraged when it was discovered that the caller was Democrat candidate Robyn Hodge, but decided not to send out a press release about "dirty politics". "I'm not really wanting to do to them what they've done to me, which is they actively sought to discredit our position, and do it in a deceptive way."
Scott Kinnear maintained his politesse through the week, greeting Natasha Stott Despoja cordially at an education forum. But the row between the Greens and the Democrats is now more than a spat about preferences, he says. "It's a battle for the high moral ground. We need that in Australian politics desperately."
Now the Senate candidate is once again feeling optimistic about his chances next Saturday week, believing that the preference deal may backfire on the Democrats. "The Democrats have gained preferences, but what they have given away is their integrity in the eyes of the electorate. This may lose them some of their primary vote."
Democrats campaign manager Jack Evans said that he, rather than Victorian Democrat senator, Lyn Allison, should answer Mr Kinnear's criticisms because candidates didn't do the preference deals. Mr Evans dismissed Mr Kinnear's "dirty tricks" complaints. "Candidates snipe at candidates. If the man is planning to be in politics, he's got to develop a thicker skin than that. That's only marginal compared with the sort of abuse our candidates receive from Greens candidates around the rest of the country."
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