A concerned Liberal writes...please don't do it Ted!

Sebastian Tombs explains the dangers of a Liberal-Green preference deal.

Preferences are the bane of Australian election campaigns.  They’re great for democracy in giving voters the fullest possible voice.  But parties and candidates want other parties and candidates to give them their preferences, and parties and candidates need to decide who to give them to.  That leads to all sorts of interesting combinations, permutations and unholy alliances.

The federal election showed the huge power of preferences in our voting system.  There was a Green, Adam Bandt (who looks uncannily like 60s cartoon character Atom Ant), elected in Melbourne with Liberal preferences. Andrew Willkie, that left-leaning ex-Liberal ex-Green, was elected in Denison with Liberal preferences.  National Party preferences overwhelmingly favoured kingmaking rural independents Tony Windsor and Rob “I’ll never be a Trappist monk” Oakeshott.  What was the result of these guided preference flows?  Julia Gillard is prime minister and Tony Abbott isn’t.