Assessing the Majors

Both major parties have fallen well short on climate action. The Labor party has arguabley been better than the Libs but not good enough to save our skins. They are still opening up new coal and gas for instance.The aim of the Traffic Light Voting Guide is to advise you on how to vote in your own electorate to create a Labor minority government forced to govern with the support of a progressive cross bench.

Our Traffic Light Assessment for the major parties will change depending on whether you happen to be voting in a marginal or safe seat.

Here is how we assess the major parties in five different electoral situations.

 

  1. Are you voting in a safe Labor or Coalition seat? These seats are unlikely to change Australia’s political landscape. In these electorates both majors will be assessed as red. Because they are both a dangerous choice, preference them after the green light and orange light candidates. As a climate voter, you may feel your lower house preference will not have much of a chance. All is not lost, though. Your senate vote will strengthen the numbers of climate committed upper house members and their vital role as a house of review.
  2. Are you voting in a marginal Labor held seat in a two way contest with the Coalition? These seats may paradoxically attract a orange light for the Coalition and a red light for Labor. Our call here is to advise voters to put the Coalition ahead of Labor. The aim is to wrestle the seat away from Labor to help reduce Labor’s majority and and move them closer to minority government. This advice, though, must be underpinned by polling which points to an unlikely Coalition victory or little likelihood of their being able to form a minority government. The Teals have helped to seriously weaken the Coalition numbers and any danger of this outcome.
  3. Are you voting in a marginal Labor held seat which is in a three or four way contest with the Coalition, the Greens and/or progressive independents . Lucky you! These are the most important electorates for political change.They offer the best opportunity to use our preferential voting system to unseat the labor majority and re;place them with politicians who are committed to action on climate. As in previous scenario, these seats may also attract a orange light for the Coalition and a red light for Labor. Our call here is to advise voters to put the Coalition ahead of Labor.
  4. Are you voting in a marginal Coalition held seat which are in a two way contest with Labor. These seats may also attract a orange light for the Coalition and a red light for Labor. Our call here (similar to 1. and 2.) is to advise voters to put the Coalition ahead of Labor. The aim is the put a brake on Labor’s majority rather than in any way encourage the election of a Coalition government.
  5. Are you voting in a marginal Coalition held seat which is in a three or four way contest with the Coalition, the Greens and/or progressive independents As in previous scenario, these seats may also attract a orange light for the Coalition and a red light for Labor. Once again, our call here is to advise voters to put the Coalition ahead of Labor.

The goal is to elect progressive parliaments able to respond adaptively to real-world crises and that represent citizens, not fossil fuel and other vested interests. Where Labor is in a majority, lobby groups can capture a majority of the cabinet, and thus control the whole party discipline. If Labor is put into minority government special interests will have much less influence over decisions.

In other words, no one political party should control government in its own right. If special interests can control the one party, they control the whole government. It is much more difficult to control progressive minority governments.

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