Labor to rule on Greens deal

LABOR officials will decide tonight whether to make a preference deal with the Greens in the Victorian election.

LABOR officials will decide tonight whether to make a preference deal with the Greens in the Victorian election.

After a day of public mud-slinging and rancour, as Labor accused the Greens of courting the Liberals, and the Greens said Labor walked away from a deal, it is understood the Labor administration committee will meet at 5pm for discussions.

Negotiations broke down on Saturday when Labor rejected the Greens' offer of preferences for 15 or 16 lower house seats in return for Labor's preferences in all upper house seats. Instead, Labor wants Greens preferences in all 55 of the Brumby government's lower house seats, as in 2006.

Labor gave the Greens a deadline of Tuesday morning to agree to their offer but the Greens refused to budge. Since then, Labor has gone public with its concerns the Greens will not give them all the preferences because they also want a deal with the Liberals in four inner-city seats.

The Greens say they were always going to preference "like-minded independents" in some seats, and preferencing Labor in up to 16 - given the Coalition needs to win 13 seats - would all but ensure Labor's victory.

Greens MP Greg Barber yesterday denied there was a deal with the Coalition, or any party, and said Labor's demands and timeline were ridiculous.

"Just because Labor has thrown their toys out of the cot it doesn't mean anything is actually happening," Mr Barber said. "There is no great hurry, as the upper house voting tickets don't need to be lodged until midday on Sunday."

Labor state secretary Nick Reece confirmed the party administrative committee was meeting tonight to authorise a preference deal. "We urge the Greens to consider their approach and work to secure a progressive government for Victoria," he said. Meanwhile, Liberal leader Ted Baillieu refused to comment on negotiations with the Greens.

"I've said that we would make a decision in our time and I stand by that," he said."We haven't got any deals on the table (and) I'm not making any comment about this."

Mr Baillieu said it was clear Labor and the Greens would do a deal.

"John Brumby has been telling you for the last three weeks how bad the Greens are and now his party secretary seems to be out there saying they will preference (the Greens) today," he said.

A senior Liberal figure said the impasse between the Greens and the Liberals probably centred on the left-wing party's intransigence on a straight preference swap.

They said it was likely the Greens had offered the Coalition an open ticket in exchange for the Liberals preferencing the minor party in the inner city, which was unacceptable.