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The prospects of same sex law reform under a Rudd ALP Government would be in serious jeopardy if Queensland Labor strikes a preference swap with Family First, the Greens have warned.
While Labor maintains no such deal had been struck, several well-placed Greens told Queensland Pride they believe a federal election preference swap between Labor and the anti-gay party is imminent.
“Discussions have been taking place concerning Family First preferencing the Labor Party in some marginal seats in the House of Representatives in return for Labor preferences in the Senate,” a well-placed Greens source told Queensland Pride.
He said the information had come from disgruntled Labor sources.
“The decision is currently in the hands of the ALP State executive. The executive is split but the Right currently has the numbers to push the deal through, although nothing has yet been signed off,” he said.
Queensland Labor State Secretary Milton Dick told Queensland Pride a decision on preferences would not be made until closer to the election.
“There have been no preference deals struck with any of the parties. We are in discussions with a number of parties and there have been no decisions made whatsoever,” he said.
However, the Greens candidate for the October 9 Brisbane Central by-election, Anne Boccabella, said Labor had held very few meetings with the Greens and many with Family First.
“Milton Dick will simply will not communicate with the Greens,” Boccabella said. “We’ve been left out of the process. We’d at least need Milton Dick to be talking to us to get those preferences and he’s not.
“I think he’s got to stop playing games with his own constituents. I think a lot of Labor Party people would not be happy if they were in deep consultation with Family First and seriously considering a preference deal,” she said.
“Either way, it would taint the Labor Party at every level of government.”
Queensland Pride put it to Milton Dick that the prospect of same-sex law reform would be dim if Family First held the balance of power.
He replied: “We want to see a majority in the House of Reps and the Senate, and that’s what we’ll be working towards. Our bottom-line priority is removal of the Howard Government and we want to see a change in government to move forward on a number of social issues.”
According to The Australian, senior Labor figures do support a preference swap with Family First.
The newspaper quotes an unnamed Labor source as saying Family First would be more useful to the party than the Greens.
“I don’t think Family First are as bad as some people insist, and I don’t think the Greens are as good as other people make out,” the source is reported to have said.
Action Reform Change Queensland spokesperson Rod Goodbun urged LGBT voters not to follow any party’s how-to-vote card, but to distribute their own preferences based on policy.
“Despite what the how-to-vote cards say, GLBT voters should think carefully about how they award their voting preferences to ensure they’re supporting GLBT- friendly policies,” Goodbun said.
Australian Coalition for Equality spokesperson Rodney Croome agreed.
“To ensure that your vote counts for LGBT equality, always vote below the line. Vote for the candidates you know will support us. Don’t let the party machine men distribute your vote for you,” he said.
At the 2004 election, an ALP deal with Family First in Victoria helped Family First’s Steve Fielding get elected, even though he had only 56,372 first-preference votes and was the sixth senator elected from Victoria. The Greens polled 263,551 votes and did not gain a position.
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