Greens nod to Marles

Labor’s Richard Marles has secured Greens preferences over independent candidate Gavan O’Connor in a boost to the ALP’s chances of holding Corio at the federal election.
But regional convenor Bruce Lindsay said the Greens would direct preferences to the Democrats and Socialist Alliance ahead of Mr Marles, with Mr O’Connor next in line at fourth.
Greens leader Bob Brown last week ordered branches in mainland seats to direct first preferences to Labor.
However, support for Mr O’Connor among local Greens members led to weekend talks between the branch and the party’s central administration on the order in Corio.
Mr O’Connor, the incumbent Member for Corio, quit Labor last month to stand as an independent after losing a bitter preselection battle to Mr Marles.
Mr O’Connor launched his campaign with allegations of misconduct in Geelong’s council and Labor party circles.
Mr Lindsay denied that the preference order held a message for Labor about the candidates in Corio.
But he said Mr O’Connor had been “very valuable” in expressing concerns about the conduct of council and Labor in Geelong.
Mr Lindsay expected the other minor parties to drop out of the Corio race “pretty early” on election day, so Mr Marles would be the main beneficiary of the Greens’ preference directions.
“But at the end of the day it’s up to individual voters to decide their preferences,” Mr Lindsay said.
The Corio branch accepted the order on the basis that a preference deal with Labor could help the Greens snare a senate seat in Victoria and the balance of power in the upper house of federal parliament, he said.
“The federal picture is the key thing for the Greens at the end of the day,” Mr Lindsay said.
“In (that) context, Greens members in Corio would be satisfied with what has happened.”
Mr O’Connor accused the Corio Greens of accepting “another centralised political deal” irrelevant to specific Corio issues.
He expected Greens supporters to revolt against the preference order and put him ahead of Mr Marles.
Mr Marles said he was “very relaxed” about the Greens’ order.
“It helps to be in a good position on anybody’s preferences,” he said.