The Greens will not preference the ALP in the seat of Richmond, candidate Joe Ebono announced today. Richmond is not one of the marginal seats involved in the deal announced last week, he said.
“Local Greens feel that Justine Elliot has done nothing for this electorate that encourages us to advise our voters to support her,” he said.
Greens preferences are critical to the outcome of the election as none of the other three parties can win in their own right. "Voters are sick of the power games and spin from the corporate parties and want politicians with real values to make the laws,” Mr Ebono said.
The Greens in Richmond will provide voters with a How to Vote card that simply says Vote 1 Green, You MUST fill out all the squares, and identifies the party names of each candidate.
Open tickets are considered risky because voters are more likely to make a mistake that could make their vote informal so that it is not counted. Mr Ebono said that voters are more intelligent than politicians acknowledge.
“People vote informal when they don’t care,” he said.
“The people of Richmond do care, and they now have the opportunity to let the Labor and Liberal party know that Australians are not fools and will no longer vote for governments that represent corporate interests above those of the voters.”