AUSTRALIAN Country Alliance has hit back at claims it is backing Labor in return for preferences in the upper house.
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ACA — which was just 1900 votes shy of an upper house seat in 2010 — is in a strong position to snag a spot in Northern Victoria after the ALP preferenced it second.
But Liberal Party state director Damian Mantach said he believed ACA was “defrauding voters” by making a blanket deal with Labor, by preferencing them over the Coalition in key lower house seats.
An ACA spokesman said it had preferenced the Coalition in both upper and lower house seats, including marginals like Eildon and Ripon.
In Northern Victoria, ACA has preferenced the Coalition ahead of Labor.
ACA has also received second preferences from the conservative bloc: Liberal Democrats, Family First, the Democratic Labour Party and Rise Up Australia.
The Shooters and Fishers Party appears also poised to collect, with second preferences from the Coalition and Palmer United among others.
The Greens-PUP deal also appears to be alive in Northern Victoria, with PUP preferencing the Greens over Labor, and the Greens preferencing PUP over both Labor and the Coalition.
