Members of political parties invariably vote on party lines whatever their personal opinion may be on a particular parliamentary decision. As a consequence, Vote Climate One ranks all candidates in the same party with the same light.
Because only the two major parties form government in the Australian political system, they are usually ranked one ahead of the other for our Traffic Light Voting System. Australia’s two party preferential voting system forces a choice between the two. This time round Lobor has been ranked orange ahead of coalition parties on Red. The Labor Party policies and voting record on climate is certainly not perfect so our advice is to number them after the green candidates but before those with a red light.
In the following circumstances, though, they may both be equally ranked. For this election they are both Red for advice on voting above the line in the Victorian Upper House. In a Lower House seat which is challenged by a progressive minor party or independent they may be both Orange. Consequently the focus of our Traffic Light climate lens can produce a paradoxical outcome. It seems unlikely in present circumstances, though, that either major party will attract a Green Light.
The Victorian government might look ok from a distance, but up close it has:
- Made electric vehicles more expensive with the country’s only tax on driving an EV
- Approved new gas drilling near the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road
- Broken an election promise to protect old growth forests from logging
ALP’s preference deals for voting above the line in the Legislative Council for the 2018 Victorian election did not favour Green Light parties or candidates. Until we are told otherwise, we expect they will follow the same policy in this election. Our current advice is not to give Labor your number one above the line. TO VOTE ABOVE THE LINE Vote Climate One will choose one party which we think has the best preference distribution to favour action on the climate emergency. This cannot be finalised in our election guides until after November 11th when all the preference deals are made public.
In the Victorian state election we strongly recommend you vote below the line on your upper house ballot paper. When you vote below the line you have complete control of where your preferences go to support action on the climate emergency.