Top Liberals enraged over Guy’s plan to preference Greens ahead of Labor

A member of the Victorian Liberals’ governing body has attacked the party’s decision to preference Greens above Labor in the November 26 election, labelling it a “dangerous” move that could get more Greens elected.

Administrative committee member Ian Quick posted a lengthy missive on Facebook on the weekend, saying his phone had gone “ballistic” since news broke about the decision.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy leaves the Liberal Party election launch in Port Melbourne.Credit: Chris Hopkins

“I do NOT support any move to get the Greens elected. Doing so is MORE dangerous than having the ALP elected (as problematic as they can be) and if the Greens ever hold the balance of power we are all screwed,” he wrote.

The Age on Saturday revealed the Coalition would send preferences to the Greens and put Labor last on its how-to-vote cards.

Explaining the move on the weekend Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said: “While the Greens are bad, Daniel Andrews and Labor are worse.”

“It is incumbent upon us to do everything possible to rid the state of Mr Andrews and his administration.”

Administrative committee member and internal critic Ian Quick.Credit: Michael Clayton Jones

The only exception would be in seats where candidates had “significant character or policy issues”, he said.

The decision will result in Liberal preferences flowing to Greens candidates in Northcote, Richmond and Albert Park, where Labor is trying to fend off Greens challengers.

But the decision has infuriated some Liberal Party members, with one senior figure – who asked not to be named so they could discuss internal matters – labelling it “Trumpian bullshit”.

It stands in contrast to the position taken by party elder Ted Baillieu, former party president David Kemp and former state director Tony Nutt in 2010 to “put the Greens last” in all 88 lower house seats, a move repeated at federal and Victorian elections since.

Quick claimed in his post that the administrative committee was being sidelined by Liberal Party state president Greg Mirabella, party leader Matthew Guy and state director Sam McQuestin.

“Admin is being kept completely out of the loop on any campaign decisions – we aren’t even informed of what the decisions are, let alone being able to influence them,” he said.

“All regular admin meetings over this period were cancelled.”

Mirabella said the party’s administrative committee did not run election campaigns. He did not respond to the other criticisms.

Quick has been a vocal critic of Guy in the past. After the 2018 election, he wrote to party members saying Guy should leave the parliament.

“I had many voters tell me that they normally voted Liberal, but couldn’t vote for Matthew, and my understanding is that there was some polling a year ago telling us that he was the biggest drag on our ticket,” he wrote.

“Matthew told members – including me directly – that if he lost this election he would be resigning from parliament quite quickly afterwards. He needs to do so now.”

Attempts to reach Quick were unsuccessful.

This story is part of our in-depth local coverage of the key seats of Melton, Hawthorn and Richmond at the November state election.

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