Choosing preferences carefully in the Victorian elelction.

Picture from here

Saturday 27 November is election day in Victoria.  The system of voting in the Legislative Assembly - the Lower House - is Preferential.  The Greens political fortunes give every impression of being on the rise in the inner metropolitan area of Melbourne.  They have just gained their first seat in the House of Representatives in the Federal Parliament - from the inner metropolitan area of Melbourne.  Together with the hung Federal Parliament, the Brumby Labor Government is very nervous about the outcome of the Victorian election.  

So, Networkers, we have the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, begging Liberals - the major Opposition party - not to preference The Greens.

Meanwhile, my friend Maria - the indefatigible Water Warrior (and boy did she get what she wanted to say in at the Murray Darling Basin Authority community engagement event yesterday!) - has written this begging letter to The Greens:

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please do NOT prefence Labor-URGENT =we need to talk about this Inbox X Reply to greg.barber@parliament.vic.gov.au cc Colleen.Hartland@parliament.vic.gov.au, sue.pennicuik@parliament.vic.gov.au, "Brown, Bob (Senator)" , "Hanson-Young, Sarah (Senator)" , "Siewert, Rachel (Senator)" date 29 October 2010 08:58 subject please do NOT prefence Labor-URGENT =we need to talk about this mailed-by internode.on.net Dear Mr Barber, I saw you at the MDBA meeting at Sofitel yesterday but you were gone before I could talk with you. I implore you NOT to preference the Labor party! They have broken every promise they made with regards to water, power, old growth forests and rural areas, transport and fires. This is unacceptable. The coalition has promised not to use the pipe (75GL) and I ask that you find out which party will be prepared to sell this 75GL back to the Cth for environmental flows lessening the demand on irrigators! Melbourne has other options and these have never been considered. This action of selling it back INTO the system is a sign of faith and support for rural people because it means that they will have less water to give up! I need to have a positive response from you otherwise I will not be able to support the Greens because they are not focused on ensuring that their vote make a difference to ecological sustainability in Victoria. We need a change, and we need to work together and put politics aside because politics created the problems in the first place. Please respond to my concerns. Please! Kind regards Maria I believe in protecting the environment but I believe ALL users must play their part! Also permanent water restrictions must apply everywhere.