Victorian Liberal MPs gagged on preference swaps

THE Victorian Liberals have put a gag order on all state and federal MPs.

THE Victorian Liberals have put a gag order on all state and federal MPs.

The Mps have been banned from talking publicly about any preference deals with the Greens at the upcoming state election.

Reprising memories of Jeff Kennett's infamous gag order at the 1999 election, which contributed to his downfall, Liberal state president David Kemp yesterday sent an email to members warning them to keep quiet on the controversial preference issue.

Increasing numbers of senior Liberal figures, including former prime minister John Howard and Victorian senator Helen Kroger, have publicly expressed concern about the party preferencing the Greens in the inner city.

Internal rumblings have been growing since the election of Greens MP Adam Bandt in the federal seat of Melbourne with the help of Liberal preferences, for which the Liberals gained nothing in return.

The Greens can potentially take four inner-city seats from Labor - and may play kingmaker if there is a hung parliament result - when Victorians go to the polls on November 27.

The latest Newspoll, published in The Australian yesterday, showed a record 19 per cent of respondents intending to vote for the Greens.

Greens MP Greg Barber again ruled out any preference swap with the Coalition, declaring: "We have never preferenced the Liberals in Victoria and I don't think we are about to start."

The Kemp email, released to the media along with a press statement from state Liberal director Tony Nutt, entitled "Hypocrisy, thy name is Labor", was sent to all members of the Victorian division of the party yesterday.

"Any views that members of the party may have on preference allocation should be communicated through forums of the party and the usual processes of discussion within the party," Mr Kemp wrote.

"It is inappropriate for members of the Victorian division to engage in public discussion of this matter through the media."

He said any preference deal could be discussed "within the party" and internal contributions were welcome. Mr Kemp said members were "reminded that the decision on preference allocation is a matter for the organisation of the party in consultation with the parliamentary leadership". "Final decisions will be made in the interests of the people of Victoria."

Liberal leader Ted Baillieu would not be drawn on the issue yesterday, refusing to say whether the party had decided to preference the Greens.

"We will make our decision about preferences in due course," he said. "These are decisions that ultimately fall to our party."

Premier John Brumby, whose Labor government's popularity is on the decline according to yesterday's Newspoll, urged Liberal voters to preference Labor ahead of the Greens.

"For the Liberal voters, many of them don't realise that it's their preferences that will determine the seat," Mr Brumby told ABC radio. "I would appeal to them to make an informed decision about whether they really do want to elect a Greens member of parliament."

Mr Nutt labelled Mr Brumby hypocritical and said he should tell Victorians whether Labor was  entering into a preference deal with the Greens.