Premier Dan Andrews told Neos Kosmos that the Coalition is implicitly supporting fringe and extreme right wing parties by placing them ahead of Labor, in their preferences.

Premier Andrews said that “preference decisions of other parties is up to them; we make our own way.”

“I’ve got to say, there are some people running in this election who don’t share all those values I spoke about, they do not value multiculturalism.”

He said that many of those fringe right-wing parties were “basically racists.”

“Why you would preference them ahead of the Labor party is just beyond me,” he told Neos Kosmos.

Andrews said about the Coalition’s preferences that “there has been some pretty awful behaviour over the last few years, and you should not reward that by essentially having a political partnership with people who don’t share mainstream values”.

He did warn that some communities who have been here longer may feel they are no longer the target of racists.

“I say this with the greatest of respect, there are some communities that have been here longer, and perhaps don’t see themselves as the target of racists, but if you are intolerant, if you are a racist, then anyone who doesn’t look like you are a target, whether they have been here for five minutes, 50 years or 150 years, or indeed 50,000 years.”

Multiculturalism Andrews said is “everybody, yes, everybody.”

He added that multiculturalism was “a really precious thing.”

“We need to safeguard and value multiculturalism and I think it is appalling to have people who do not share those views, in effect have opposite views are in a political partnership with the alternative government. It just doesn’t make any sense to me we would never do it and never have.”

There is some worry it seems that the Coalition’s preferences may result in a minority government. The premier also suggested that it was hypocritical of the Coalition to put the Greens ahead of Labor while at the same time labelling them environmental extremists.