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Unions warn Albanese 250,000 members may abandon Labor at next election as bitter rift widens
(www.theguardian.com)
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I wonder how much chance the conservatives have of bagging some of their votes. I imagine most will go further left (Greens or Socialist Party) with preferences to Labour before the tories, though if enough leak through it could put Dutton in the Lodge.
The Coalition voted for the anti-CFMEU legislation too, but I guess people could preference Coalition above Labor just to hurt Labor in the 2PP figures.
I'm not sure it'd send any clearer a message, though, than just preferencing Greens and socialists above Labor but still putting Labor above Coalition. Seems like a Labor government would be more likely to repeal the laws than a Coalition one, under pressure from a bolstered Greens bloc.
I feel like reactionary swing voting like this would not be a common behaviour among union members. Like the whole point of joining a union is that you have some pretty entrenched beliefs about worker's rights, and one party here clearly has a worse record than the other in that regard. Like the thought occurred to me too, but I think you guys are right that people going further left to independents or The Greens, before ultimately preferencing Labor above Liberal, is the most likely change that could occur.
There's also the possibility of a split. If enough of the unions want to split, and it does look like it, it's possible that "left Labor" and "right Labor" split into two parties.