Labor asking voters to put Legalise Cannabis Party second ahead of the Greens

Labor is asking voters to put the Legalise Cannabis Party second ahead of the Greens in a preference deal that could deliver former sex activist Fiona Patten a seat in the Senate.

Labor is asking voters to put the Legalise Cannabis Party second ahead of the Greens in a preference deal that could deliver former sex activist Fiona Patten a seat in the Senate.

The former Victorian MP is the lead Senate candidate for the Cannabis Party, which is hoping to install its first ever candidate into the federal parliament.

With Labor now sending their preferences to the party in Victoria, its chances of securing the necessary quota to win a Senate spot have been significantly bolstered.

In Queensland, Labor has put the Cannabis Party second in two seats.

Ms Patten, who formed the Australian Sex Party in 2009 – it was later renamed the Reason Party – said she hoped to get into the Senate to advocate for the legalisation of cannabis at a federal level.

One of the first politicians to openly talk about her own cannabis use, Ms Patten said it was impossible for the States to engage in drug law reform while the federal crimes act remained unchanged.

“Cannabis regulation is a state matter, but until we change the federal laws, the states can’t progress anything,” she said.

Ms Patten, who also will call for a full review of how medical cannabis is grown and prescribed to make it easier for people to access the drug, said she would likely be up against One Nation or the Trumpet of Patriots in taking the sixth spot.

In the lower house, the Cannabis Party had been contesting 42 marginal seats until it was forced to disendorse a candidate in the WA seat of Canning this week over antisemitic comments made online.

Fiona Patten is running for the Federal senate. Picture: Tony Gough

In NSW, the Cannabis Party – which only contested one lower house seat in 2022 – is preferencing Labor ahead of the Coalition in critical seats such as Robertson, Werriwa and Gilmore.

The party is also preferencing Labor ahead of the Greens in Wills and Cooper in Victoria.

“We have a pretty big ground game and because cannabis is a working class drugs, our preferences could make quite a difference to the result,” the source said.

Megan Mathew, the Cowper candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Party.

Legalise Cannabis Australia party candidate for Robertson Tom Lillicrap. Picture: Supplied

“They key reason we are preferencing Labor is because we are far more likely to have cannabis reforms under a Labor government than a Dutton one.”

In Victoria, the party’s how-to-vote cards feature a picture of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly holding cannabis leaves “coz he was always challenging the law,” the source said.

The party has also ramped up its expenditure significantly, from less than $100,000 in 2022 to well over $1 million, much of it accumulated through “lots” of small donations.

The Cannabis Party is campaigning for cannabis to be treated in the same way as alcohol are tobacco are in relations to advertising and labelling.

It also wants a moratorium on all arrests of cannabis consumers, allowing people to grow cannabis in their gardens or indoors, and for historical personal-use cannabis criminal records to be wiped.

It is also campaigning for an overhaul of drug driving laws to look at impairment rather than a presence of cannabis, plus a defence for medicinal users.

The party also wants a state-based licensing system covering all commercial operations including production, manufacturing, and retail / dispensing and state-regulated affordable testing facilities available for producers, growers, and consumers.

Originally published as Labor asking voters to put Legalise Cannabis Party second ahead of the Greens