Victoria is set for a three-way election contest, with a new poll showing One Nation narrowly ahead of both Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition.
The poll of 6,500 voters, conducted by Redbridge on behalf of the Victorian Trades Hall, shows Jacinta Allan’s government tied with the Opposition on 26 per cent primary vote, with One Nation on 27 per cent.
The rest of the vote was split between the Greens’ 12 per cent and “other” on 8 per cent.
However, micro parties are expected to face a wipeout in the state’s upper house, due to the government’s plans to abolish group voting tickets during the next parliamentary sitting week.
The Redbridge poll contains seat-by-seat breakdowns, with multiple scenarios forecast based on minor changes of the vote and expected preference flows.
These range from Labor narrowly retaining government to an electoral wipeout.
Trades Hall boss Luke Hilakari is expected to share the results to unions on Tuesday in a meeting to encourage them to launch a campaign blitz to get Labor over the line.
Labor’s pitch to voters is already beginning to take shape ahead of the November election, with Ms Allan spending months attempting to tie Opposition Leader Jess Wilson to One Nation.
This message was repeated in a new Labor ad launched on Monday.
“The Liberals and One Nation can only form government together in Victoria,” the ad claims.
“What does that look like? Liberal leader Jess Wilson says she’ll make $40 billion in cuts. But you can’t cut $40 billion without cuts to every public hospital in Victoria.
“Nurses sacked, hospital beds shut, emergency department upgrades cut and longer wait times.
“Tell the Liberals and One Nation: Hands off our hospitals.”
The Liberals have pledged to reduce government spending by $22 billion over a decade through a public service hiring freeze and natural attrition, but they insist frontline services will not be affected.