Election 2025: Labor MP Josh Burns ‘prefers to hedge his bets’ on Greens

Labor MP Josh Burns told Jewish members of his Melbourne electorate to ‘give him time’ when asked if he would deny preferences to the Greens.

Labor MP Josh Burns. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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Under threat Labor MP Josh Burns told Jewish members of his inner-Melbourne electorate to “give him time”, “watch this space” and “read between the lines” when asked if he would deny preferences to the Greens.

In a leaked audio recording from a community meeting held prior to last year’s firebombing ­attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue, Mr Burns assured voters he would be “doing everything” to prevent a Greens candidate from winning the inner-city marginal seat of Macnamara.

The meeting, dubbed “Confronting the rise of Anti-Semitism in Australia”, was held in a Caulfield synagogue in August last year and featured Mr Burns and Liberal MP David Southwick. Mr Burns was asked if he would preference the Greens at the federal election.

Mr Burns at the event.

“Watch this space, you need to give me some time to ensure that I can have conversations that I need to have internally with the party,” he said.

“I completely do not under any circumstance want to see a Greens member in Macnamara and I will be doing everything I can to ensure that.

“What that looks like and how we get through that are the conversations that I am having right now inside the party.

“We haven’t even had the final boundaries declared so there is that process, and I know that’s not what people want to hear but read between the lines about where I stand on this. When inevitably I release a how-to-vote ticket you will see where I stand.”

When approached for comment, Mr Burns said he was not authorised to speak about preferences, nor the possibility of running an “open ticket” — where no directions are given to voters on who to preference.

Multiple sources who attended the meeting claimed Mr Burns had privately indicated to locals that he intended to run an open ticket — effectively denying preferences to the Greens and boosting the Liberal Party’s chances.

“There are Labor volunteers running around telling people that he (Mr Burns) won’t be preferencing the Greens,” one source said. “Labor doesn’t want to get in trouble with the Greens and they don’t want to get in trouble with the Jewish community, so we take that with a grain of salt.

“There’s a lot of pressure on him and there’s many people who are very hesitant to vote for him because they’re worried their votes may go to the Greens.”

Anthony Albanese said this week he would not engage in preference negotiations, but backed Mr Burns as a “fantastic MP”, adding the Greens Party had “lost its way”. “I don’t engage in preference negotiations, as you’re aware. But I say this about McNamara: Josh Burns is a fantastic local MP. The Greens political party have lost their way,” the Prime Minister said.

The electorate, which includes the suburbs of St Kilda and Caulfield, is a key target for the Greens, who came within a few hundred votes of pushing Labor into third place at the 2022 election.

At the time, Liberal candidate Colleen Harkin faced off against Mr Burns in the final count, but he secured a comfortable victory after receiving a strong flow of preferences from the Greens.

This time, Liberal candidate Benson Saulo will contest the seat, with anti-Semitism shaping as a defining issue for local voters.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson called on Mr Burns to show “leadership”, accusing him of hedging his bets. “The Greens are a dangerous, ­extremist group whose actions and rhetoric have emboldened extremism, spread conspiracy theories, and directly contributed to a hostile environment for our Jewish community,” Senator Paterson said.

“If Josh Burns is planning on running an open ticket, he needs to say that outright and give the people of Macnamara security and leadership.”