A political analyst expects the status quo to remain in the Northern Victoria region of the Upper House of parliament despite some puzzling preference deals.
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The Greens are targeting the fifth seat in the region to deliver the party its first regional Victorian MP with Macedon Ranges-based lawyer and tax law trainer Nicole Rowan.
The fifth seat is currently held by Daniel Young MP, from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.
Labor has preferenced two candidates from the Aussie Battler party and a further two from the Liberal Democrats ahead of Ms Rowan.
La Trobe University honorary associate of politics Ian Tulloch said he was surprised Labor had preferenced the Liberal Democrats over the Greens.
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“There’s been a lot of preferencing by the minor parties which seems to be successful, perhaps the government is worried about how many seats it will retain in the Upper House,” he said.
Mr Tulloch said pragmatism tended to override ideological preference in certain situations, and suggested the Greens’ hopes of gaining the fifth seat had become slimmer in recent weeks.
The Greens have also preferenced the Health Australia Party – labelled as anti-vaccination by the Australian Medical Association –ahead of Labor despite the Greens and Labor’s pro-vaccination stance.
Ms Rowan described Labor’s preferences as “unfortunate”, but remained optimistic of gaining the fifth seat.
“We’ve ran a strong campaign and we’ve got some strong lower house candidates in the Bendigo electorates,” she said.
Ms Rowan suggested the proportional representation system used in the Upper House was problematic and “didn’t reflect the will of the people”.
“If someone can get eight per cent of the vote and doesn’t get elected and someone else gets 0.3 per cent and does, it’s not referencing the will of the people,” she said.
The group voting tickets used in Victoria’s Upper House give smaller parties a greater chance of securing a seat due to distributed votes that stem from party preferences.
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