If there’s one thing Labor hero and former NSW premier Jack Lang said that has stood the test of time in politics, it’s “always back the horse named self-interest”.
As Queensland officially kicks off the state election, both Labor and the Liberal National Party should be on a unity ticket when it comes to the Greens.
It’s in their interests to stop the so-called progressive party from building on its foothold in the state parliament.
Last election, the LNP cynically preferenced the Greens over Labor in a deliberate strategy to oust ALP star and then-deputy premier Jackie Trad from her inner-Brisbane seat.
It gave the Greens their second state MP and boosted their profile and taxpayer-funded resources to build a campaign that secured three Brisbane-based seats at the federal election two years later, including two held by Liberals.
For more than a year, and again on Monday, LNP leader David Crisafulli refused to be drawn on whether the party would again preference the Greens over Labor in targeted seats, saying it was a party matter. By Monday afternoon, LNP headquarters moved to rule out the conjecture, declaring it “has no intention of preferencing the Greens”.
It was what Labor was hoping for, with one senior ALP insider saying it could prove decisive in helping the government – which successive polls show is facing almost certain defeat – hold up to four seats in Brisbane being targeted by the Greens.
Labor won’t be returning the favour, however.
ALP HQ claims it has yet to make a decision, but strategists privately say they will preference the Greens ahead of the LNP.
The impact won’t be as significant but it will help the Greens in several LNP seats they are targeting and ensure they retain their two existing seats.
Queensland Labor is losing votes, and seats, to the Greens and they shouldn’t give them any help.
They only have to ask Anthony Albanese, who has been dictated to by Greens MPs over housing and Gaza, how that’s going for federal Labor.
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