GREENS voters would be shocked to hear their party is open to a ''cosy little side deal'' to back a Liberal government if there is a hung parliament after November's state election, according to Premier John Brumby.
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In a concerted government attack on the Greens that signalled a bruising election battle with Labor over key marginal seats, the Premier also said the Greens' demand for the transport portfolio if they won the balance of power ''smacks of arrogance''.
The comments come after The Age reported the Victorian Greens are open to a deal with Labor or the Liberal-National Coalition to form government if there is a hung parliament after the November 27 poll.
''You don't make those sort of comments as the Greens have done; it smacks of arrogance to be honest,'' Mr Brumby said.
''These revelations would come as a huge shock to people who voted Green, or thought about voting Green, to understand that there might be some cosy little side deal with the Liberal Party.''
Treasurer John Lenders said Bob Brown negotiating with Tony Abbott was ''like the Pope negotiating with Satan'', and now the Victorian Greens were flagging the prospect of negotiating with Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu in a bid to get seats in a Coalition state cabinet.
''People need to know that if you want John Brumby and a Labor government you vote Labor, if you want Ted Baillieu and a Coalition government you vote Liberal, and if you're not fussed which one you get, you vote Green,'' Mr Lenders said.
But Victorian Greens MP Greg Barber hit back, saying the Premier had three months to convince voters to come back to Labor when his government had done nothing for more than a decade. ''Ramping up the level of vitriol against the Greens is not going to help him get Labor voters back in his column.''
Mr Barber and his two Victorian upper house Greens colleagues, Colleen Hartland and Sue Pennicuik, would not say which parties the Greens would back in the event of a hung parliament.
''We have no fixed demands or positions,'' Mr Barber said yesterday. ''We are simply going to try to achieve outcomes for the Greens.''
The strong Greens showing at the federal poll, where Adam Bandt won the party's first lower house seat at a general election, has sent shockwaves through Victorian Labor.
The 10.4 per cent swing Mr Bandt achieved to win the federal seat of Melbourne would imperil four crucial inner-city Labor seats - Melbourne, Richmond, Brunswick and Northcote - if repeated at the state poll. Two of those seats are held by senior Brumby government ministers Bronwyn Pike and Richard Wynne.
Ms Pike said the Greens would help the Liberals wind back moves to protect the environment, and bring back WorkChoices in exchange for a ministry. ''Greg Barber has let Victorians know that a vote for the Greens in Victoria is a vote for a Liberal-National government,'' she said.
Mr Baillieu said Mr Brumby's strategy was to undermine the Greens, ''whilst hoping no one will notice that Labor is actually dependent on the Greens' preferences''.
Neither Mr Brumby nor Mr Baillieu have ruled out dealing with the Greens if the state poll creates a hung parliament.
Labor could not govern in its own right if it lost 11 seats at the election.
