Vic Libs to preference ALP ahead of Greens

24 Jul 2012, 4:24 pm   -   Source: AAP

The Greens have taken to Twitter to concede defeat in the Melbourne by-election as the Liberals say they will preference Labor at the next state poll.

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Premier Ted Baillieu has indicated the coalition will again preference Labor ahead of the Greens at the next Victorian state election.

His comments came as the Greens used Twitter to concede defeat in the Melbourne by-election held on Saturday.

Cathy Oke congratulated Labor candidate Jennifer Kanis on winning the seat when she took to Twitter on Tuesday morning: "Congratulations @JenniferKanis on winning the State Seat of Melbourne. Thanks to all our supporters for your hard work!".

After rechecking of votes on Monday, Ms Kanis stretched her lead over Ms Oke to 772 votes on a two-party preferred basis.

However, Labor lost the primary vote in the seat it has held for more than a century. There was also a low voter turnout, with almost a third of eligible voters failing to cast their vote.

The Liberal Party did not run a candidate in the by-election, which was called after former Labor MP Bronwyn Pike resigned.

The Liberals directed preferences to Labor ahead of the Greens at the last two state elections and Mr Baillieu indicated they would play the same strategy at the 2014 poll.

"Obviously the party would make that decision (on who to preference), as the party has made the decision in the past ... but I think you can get a pretty good hint from what we did in 2006 and what we did in 2010," he told reporters.

He said the absence of a Liberal candidate could not be blamed for the low voter turnout because the party had not run in the last two by-elections and they had had an average turnout of about 80 per cent.

Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber said despite the defeat the minor party would continue to grow.

"We'll continue to see the Greens' vote rise, it's up six-fold in 12 years in the inner city and the voters are responding increasingly well to our policies," he told AAP.

Ms Oke said the Greens ran a positive campaign and this helped the party win the primary vote for the first time in a state election in Victoria.

"Our primary vote has grown and will continue to grow and if the same swings are repeated in the next federal election, we will retain the federal seat of Melbourne," she said in a statement.

Victorian Labor Party deputy leader James Merlino said there were lessons to be learnt, given the fall in Labor's two-party preferred and primary vote and the low voter turnout.

"We all need to reflect on that and make sure we do inspire voters to get out there," he told AAP.

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