Liberals creating a rod for their back with preference deal

Detailed summary

Readers react negatively to the preference announcement by Jess Wilson regarding One Nation.

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The Victoria Coalition has made a serious strategic mistake (“Liberals to put Labor, Greens last”, 11/11). Not in terms of the election outcome with Jess Wilson, according to the polls, certain to be Victoria’s next premier. Rather, by threatening its prospects of being in government beyond a single term.Adopting the “default position to preference One Nation”, the Opposition has almost certainly guaranteed that Pauline Hanson’s party will have lower house seats and, crucially, will hold the balance of power in the Legislative Council. Previous election outcomes, notably in the Queensland state election in 1998, show that One Nation is incapable of holding together an angry, disparate group.

Holding balance of power a disasterJess Wilson’s decision to preference One Nation will be especially problematic for Liberal urban moderates (including in her own seat of Kew). One Nation policies to scrap net zero, expand coal-fired power stations, ban renewable installations on agricultural land, revive native forest logging and end the nuclear ban (and build a nuclear reactor) are all evidence of a mindset firmly rooted in the past. Preferencing One Nation might be a fail-safe for the Liberals, but if elected, Wilson can only hope these preferences don’t result in One Nation winning (more than) enough seats in a hung parliament to acquire the balance of power.

May turn to federal Labor advantageThe Coalition edges closer to a Faustian bargain that would see it in an alliance to share government in Victoria with One Nation (″⁣Liberals to put Labor, Greens last″⁣, 11/11).

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