| Back to Letters | Back to Forest Letter Watch |
Preferences in marginal seats in Victoria and Queensland are already in the bag and Green support on how-to-vote cards in 20 or more seats is likely. How comprehensive the deal will ultimately be depends on negotiations over the burning of native forests as wood waste being classified as "renewable energy"- where agreement is understood to be imminent.
Clear-felling in high conservation value forests has also been discussed. Labor sources said the deal could encompass a swathe of marginal seats vital to the Opposition's chances of re-election. It means that Labor has got favourable deals from the two minor left-wing parties, which have taken away some of the Opposition's support due to concerns about leader Kim Beazley's "me-too" stance on asylum-seekers.
Earlier in the campaign, Labor won preferences from the Democrats in 13 marginal seats while the Liberals got Democrats support in only three marginals. This prompted an angry response from the Prime Minister, who said the Democrats had given up their "honest broker" status. The Greens leader, Bob Brown, was also upset as Labor agreed to direct preferences to the Democrats above the Greens in the Senate. Senator Brown faces a tough fight to keep his Tasmanian Senate spot.
Greens sources said yesterday the deal was still worth doing because, unlike the Democrats, the Greens have got policy improvements out of Labor in exchange for preferences. "We'll be putting Labor ahead of the Liberals in some seats and we won't be putting the Coalition above Labor in any seat," the source said. "Given what Labor has done on land-clearing, the Democrats should reconsider giving their preferences to people like [Deputy Prime Minister] John Anderson and [Minister for Agriculture] Warren Truss."
Most polls have Labor well behind the Coalition on primary vote, meaning preferences are extremely important if it is to have any chance of stealing the election from the Coalition.
Good results in Western Australia and in the Federal by-election in Ryan (which Labor won) have lifted the profile of the Greens. Its national vote is smaller than that of the Democrats but could carry weight in a number of marginals.
The deal, of itself, is unlikely to get Labor over the line but will
help if it can get closer in the final week of campaigning before the November
10 poll.
| Back to Letters | Back to Forest Letter Watch |