Greens confirm preference deal

Updated: 10:36, Monday July 19, 2010

The Australian Greens have confirmed they have reached agreement with Labor over preferences for the August 21 federal election.

Details of the deal will be announced later on Monday, just a day after Greens leader Bob Brown admitted he was ‘at odds’ with his own party over preference negotiations.

Senator Brown on Sunday refused to say whether the Greens would direct preferences to Labor in lower house seats, just as the minor party did at the 2007 election.

Under the deal, the Greens will direct preferences to Labor in lower house contests in return for receiving Labor in the upper house race, paving the way for the minor party to hold the balance of power in the Senate in its own right from July 1, 2011.

‘The Greens party will be putting out a media release about that in an hour or so,’ Senator Brown told ABC Radio on Monday, adding he did not know details of the deal .

Despite the deal, Senator Brown is arguing that voters settle on their own preference rather than be dictated by an particular political party.

Senator Brown dismissed as a negative approach suggestions the Greens should have sought concessions from Labor in return for preferences.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the deal is important for Labor.

‘Obviously people will choose to exercise their vote and where they want to put their preferences,’ she told ABC Radio.