By JONATHON HOWARD
GREENS candidate for Maranoa, Grant Newson, has urged voters worried about Tony Abbott gaining absolute power to vote “Greens” after a new poll showed most Queenslanders were opposed to the Coalition having a majority in both houses of Parliament.
The national poll, released on Saturday, 31 August, showed 61 per cent of Queensland was opposed to Tony Abbott and the Coalition having absolute power in the next parliament.
“Tony Abbott wants total control of the parliament and for the Senate to wave through policies he won’t even come clean on,” Mr Newson said.
“The poll shows that most Queenslanders don’t want one party to have total control because when that happens, we end up with policies like WorkChoices.
“Voting for the Greens in the Senate is the best way to guarantee a strong voice for the issues that matter and stop Tony Abbott getting total control.”
Hundreds of thousands of progressive Queensland voters, including ones in Maranoa may be trapped into electing a right-wing candidate to the state’s last Senate seat.
The sixth Senate seat most likely will be a race between Katter Australian Party’s (KAP) James Blundell and the Greens’ Adam Stone.
The trap for Labor voters is that their preferences go to KAP. Similarly, a vote for the Democrats and some other progressive parties ends up being a vote for Bob Katter.
“We all lose if Tony Abbott gets absolute power in Parliament,” Mr Newson said. “The Greens stand for a caring Australia and for what matters.”
