Xenophon turns his back on the Greens
Senator Nick Xenophon says his supporters and volunteers have urged him to walk away from preferencing the Greens.
The urgings came after former Greens leader Bob Brown last week demanded the South Australian senator declare his support for the minor party, as he had done in 2007 federal election.
“When Bob Brown tweeted that I need to give Greens the preferences, I hadn’t actually made any decision,” Xenophon told FIVEaa’s Leon Byner this morning.
“After his tweet I had hundreds of calls to my office.
“Most said, ‘don’t do it; if you do I won’t support you at the polling booth’.”
Xenophon relies on hundreds of volunteers to work at polling booths to hand out how-to-vote cards.
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“People who have voted for me in the past have come from the major parties, Liberal and Labor.
“The fairest thing to do is to have a split ticket that on one side gives voters the option to prefernce the Coalition and on the on the other side to preference Labor.
“That’s what my supporters and volunteers want me to do.”
Xenophon’s decision to preference the major parties will make it much harder for Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young to retain her seat in the Senate.
Hanson-Young told ABC Radio today she was disappointed with the Xenophon decision.
Adelaide University head of politics Clem Macintyre said the Xenophon decision “made sense”.
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“Historically, Nick’s votes have come from disaffected major party voters, so it makes sense that he’s preferencing back in that direction.
“It makes it much harder now for Hanson-Young.
“The sixth senate spot now shapes as a contest between the Coalition’s third candidate, Nick’s second candidate and then Family First along with the Greens.”
Flinders University political analyst Haydon Manning said the Xenophon decision adds to the Greens’ woes.
“The interesting issue now is whether Labor returns the favour and preferences Xenophon ahead of the Greens,” Manning said.
“It makes the Greens vulnerable.
“It helps the chances of Family First and it helps the chances of the Liberals getting the final spot with a third senator.
“There are always surprises, but this makes the Greens job that much harder.
“And you can’t rule out Xenophon getting two quotas if the Liberals fall short of a third quota and roll it over the Xenophon ticket.”
Earlier this week Xenophon announced retail lobbyist Stirling Griff as his number two.
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