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Updated February 13, 2017 15:33:23

Several WA One Nation candidates say they will refuse to preference the Liberal Party, contrary to a statewide deal announced on the weekend.

The WA Liberals will preference One Nation above the Nationals in the Upper House in regional areas, with One Nation preferencing the Liberals in all Lower House seats in return.

High-profile One Nation candidate Margaret Dodd, who is contesting the Liberal-held seat of Scarborough for One Nation and is the mother of murdered teenager Hayley Dodd, today condemned the decision and accused the party of bullying its candidates.

Speaking outside a Perth court where her daughter's alleged murderer, Francis Wark, is appearing today, Ms Dodd said she had "not been informed of any [preference] deal whatsoever, and I'm sure all the candidates haven't".

"I will make my own choices on who I will give my preferences to, and it certainly will not be the Liberal party," she said.

"The Liberal party will be at the bottom on the how to vote card."

Last month Ms Dodd backed Labor's "no body, no parole" promise to enact legislation where convicted murderers would not be eligible for parole unless they had cooperated with police to locate their victims' remains.

She had long campaigned for the law change, and said she was backing the Labor pledge because she felt the Liberal Government treated victims of crime as "second-class citizens".

"I was told by One Nation they support no body, no parole. We all know that Liberals don't," an angry Ms Dodd said today.

"We all know that Liberals want to sell off Western Power. One Nation doesn't, so what the hell is going on?

"I encourage other members of One Nation to stand up, do not be bullied and do not be dictated to.

"I will not be part of a dictatorship."

Ms Dodd denied she had struck a preference deal with Labor or any other party.

"I have done no deal whatsoever. The Liberal policies are the complete opposite to One Nation, so why on Earth are we doing a deal if it's not just that somebody just wants to get into power?

"I'm not about power ... I'm about principles."

One Nation Upper House candidate Charles Smith is also refusing to preference the Liberals.

In a post titled "Re Preferences" on his official Facebook page, Mr Smith urged voters to put the Liberals last.

"No-one can tell you how to vote! If you like One Nation mark a 1," the post reads.

"If you do not like the Liberals as I don't mark them last!"

One Nation's Moore candidate Jim Kelly and South Metropolitan candidate Philip Scott also used their Facebook pages to urge voters to choose their own preferences.

"OK preferences everyone ... YOU make the choice by numbering all the boxes ... that way YOU the voter has control," Mr Scott wrote.

Meanwhile, Premier Colin Barnett declared he was not a racist, and denied the preference deal would effectively hand Pauline Hanson's party control of WA's Upper House.

"I am anything but a racist and I will be judged on my values and my standards as will the Liberal Party, that's my accountability, I'm not accountable for One Nation," he told ABC Radio Perth.

"I've got to be focused on the objective and the objective is for me to get as many votes for the Liberal Party as possible."

Topics: elections, political-parties, minor-parties, wa

First posted February 13, 2017 12:50:58

Read the original:
WA One Nation candidates refuse to preference Liberals - ABC Online