Incoming premier Daniel Andrews will have only himself to blame if he finds himself working with a chaotic parliament as a result of preference deals, the Greens’ Ellen Sandell said following her historic election victory in Melbourne.
The first Greens representative to sit in the legislative assembly, Sandell said the Democratic Labour party (DLP) and the Shooters and Fishers party had clearly benefited from the preferences directed their way from Labor.
The Shooters look set to win upper house seats in Eastern Victoria, Western Victoria and Northern Victoria, while the DLP should win a seat in the Western Metropolitan region.
DLP candidate for the region, Mark Farrell, is a pro-life candidate whose priority is to scrap laws requiring doctors who object abortions to refer patients to a doctor who will perform the procedure.
“Daniel Andrews has made his own bed on this,” Sandell told reporters Sunday.
“He’s the one who has preferenced people like the DLP and the Country Alliance, who could have a couple of seats in the upper house. So if there is chaos in parliament, it is Daniel Andrews fault and his inability to work with the Greens and not wanting to preference the Greens.
“We could have had a real stable, progressive majority and any chaos must be attributed to his preferencing.”
Shooters chairman, Jeff Bourman, said the party was excited by the results so far.
“The Victorian Shooters and Fishers party are encouraged by the support we have received from around the state, and while we’re very excited by the results we must now allow the vote counting to continue,” he said.
“This is going to be very close, and the outcome may not be determined for many days.”
Both Sandell and Victorian Greens leader, Greg Barber, said environmental and transport issues would be non-negotiable priorities for their party.
“Labor’s commitment to scrapping the East West Link toll road is shaky, but the Greens won’t relent until we get the Doncaster rail alternative moving,” Barber said.
“We don’t want to be fighting the toll road again in a few years time. ”
Sandell said a vote for the Greens meant a vote for a 21st century public transport network and action on climate change, which “Labor hasn’t been talking about during this election”.
She said she was hopeful she would not be alone in the lower house and that the final vote count would see the Greens winning a couple of extra seats in Richmond, Prahran and possibly even Brunswick, which Tim Read is on the brink of taking from Labor’s Jane Garrett.
It looks like that Prahran will end up going to a full recount.
“We ran an incredible grassroots campaign in Prahran and now its on knife-edge,” Barber said.
In the upper house, the party looks set to hold five seats.
“We’re pleased to have increased our numbers in the upper house and will be working with all parties to make sure we bring transparency to government and make sure we no longer have decisions made behind closed doors,” Barber said.
“Having sent a clear message they don’t want the old parties in control, the voters will be watching the opposition’s conduct carefully. ”
