Election 2025: Labor’s just the ticket for Adam Bandt and the Greens

An analysis of Labor’s how-to-vote cards shows there are only eight seats where the ALP is either not giving any preferences or putting the left-wing party below third spot.

Greens leader Adam Bandt stands to benefit from Labor’s decision to put his party second on most Labor tickets. Picture: Adam Head

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Labor is muting its ties with the Greens in a handful of key coal-country and mortgage-belt seats by putting them lower on those how-to-vote cards, while still ­directing its preferences to the anti-Israel party in more than 80 per cent of the nation’s other ­electorates.

Anthony Albanese has spent the week defending his party’s ­decision to direct voters in his own electorate of Grayndler to back a Greens ­candidate who says he was complicit in genocide in Gaza and was involved in the blockade of his electorate office, as it was ­revealed most of the Labor frontbench is engaged in vote-­swapping deals with the Greens.

An analysis of Labor’s how-to-vote cards for this election shows there are only eight seats where the ALP is either not giving any preferences or putting the left-wing party below the third ­position.

As well as the inner-Melbourne battleground seat of Macnamara where Labor MP Josh Burns is running an open ticket, Hawke MP Sam Rae, Hunter MP Dan ­Repacholi, and the member for McEwen Rob Mitchell have placed the Greens either fourth or fifth on preferences.

Hawke and McEwen are two mortgage-belt, outer-Melbourne seats that Peter Dutton and the Liberals have had as primary targets at the election. The NSW seat of Hunter is facing a two-pronged attack from the Liberals and One Nation amid ­dissatisfaction among coal communities with Labor’s renewables energy push.

Mr Repacholi, Mr Rae and Mr Mitchell were all asked why they were not following 113 other Labor candidates across the country and putting the Greens as their recommended second preference. None of them responded.

Without Greens preferences, Labor would not have won seven seats at the last election – Bennelong, Boothby, Gilmore, Lyons, Robertson, Tangney and the now abolished Higgins – and been unable to form a majority government. Labor won 77 seats for a majority of only one in the previous 151-seat parliament.

Health Minister Mark Butler led the government’s latest defence of the Greens deals on Thursday, despite the Prime Minister accusing the party in the past of an “appalling” approach to the Israel-Hamas War and spreading disinformation over the conflict.

“Well, these preferences are a matter for the party … the Coalition’s come up with preference deals with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation,” he told the Nine Network. Pressed if the Greens were still benefiting from Labor’s recommendation that voters preference the minor party second in many electorates, Mr Butler was adamant the ALP would not negotiate with the minor party in the event of a hung parliament.

“We won’t cut a deal with the Greens, we’ve been absolutely definitive about that. The only reason Greens MPs in the parliament got there (was) through the preferences of the Liberal Party.

“We’ve been very clear about what we intend to do if we’re lucky enough to get into government and that’s to govern as a majority Labor government. That’s long been the position of Anthony Albanese, who’s been fighting the Greens for more than 20 years.”

In the 26 seats Labor is preferencing the Greens third, the majority are seats either held by teal independents or Liberal-held seats targeted by Climate 200.

Additional reporting: Alexi Demetriadi, Jack Quail, David Tanner