In yesterday’s Crikey, Charles Richardson succinctly highlighted the problem with Labor’s approach to the Greens.
Why the Green vote is something Labor should not discourage:
A strong Green vote is more likely to be an asset to Labor than a liability; the evidence suggests Green voters are more likely to come from the Coalition and give preferences to Labor than the other way around (although the effect is small either way: most preferences just go back to where the voters came from). Moreover, the Greens presence highlights issues that tend to play in Labor’s favor.
Why Labor is determined to waste resources trying to destroy them anyway:
…the Labor machine, whose apparatchiks are concentrated in the inner-city seats the Greens threaten…
That’s all it is – the Greens winning inner-city seats actually enables Labor to concentrate on wresting more conservative seats from the Liberals, with a net gain for the non-conservative parties. They’d gain more seats from the Liberals than they’d lose to the Greens. The problem is, those particular seats are the ones held by the specific individuals making the decisions…
So – how that selfish (their personal interests ahead of the party’s) bloody-mindedness would assist Baillieu:
If Labor chooses to spend its time and resources fighting the Greens in the inner city, that’s a double bonus for Baillieu: it gives him a clearer run in the outer-suburban marginals he needs to win, and it will make the Greens less likely to side with Labor should they end up with the balance of power.
The thing that annoys me most about the ALP’s bitter efforts to destroy the Greens (apart from the fact that it might well help the Liberals gain government) is that it’s done with absolute contempt for progressive voters. The ALP repeatedly demonstrates it doesn’t care about representing us in parliament: but it’ll be damned if it’ll countenance us giving our votes to someone who will.
I wonder if the Victorian ALP will once again pull a Steve Fielding on us.
Moved On 
This has nothing to do with the machinations of each seat inner/outer or any where else.The Labor party is on the nose big time, and the Greens are filling a void, and a huge threat to the Labor party. The conservatives for that matter, are also scared to death of them..
For mine, it is the Greens who are the true believers, they’re filling in the dots of and for the future, and leaving Labor to dream about that ‘light on the hill’ The Labor party needs the Greens, not vicky/verca.You would think the Labor party stalwarts would be throwing themselves at the feet of the Greens, after all from this time hence, they’ll always be in bed together.
It is over for Labor, Gillard is an experiment that has failed miserably, she and the other plotters of the coup that ousted Rudd, will not look good when the history of the once great Labor party is finally written.It was a Welshman that ruined the coal industry in Britain, there’s some irony there me thinks.
I wonder if the Victorian ALP will once again pull a Steve Fielding on us.
Sadly, I think that’s a good chance.
but it’ll be damned if it’ll countenance us giving our votes to someone who will.
Ah well, at least it shows they care!