THE Labor Party is using "flower power" to undermine the Victorian Nationals in the battle for regional votes.
Labor has depicted Nationals leader Peter Ryan as a 1960s hippie in an advertisement that warns a Coalition preference deal could hand the balance of power to the Greens at the November 27 state election.
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The Labor advertisement warns: "Liberal National Coalition members' preferences are likely to elect the first Green Party Lower House MPs."
Three of Victoria's most marginal seats - Melbourne, Brunswick and Richmond - require swings of less than 4 per cent against the Labor Party to put them into Green hands.
Last month, Upper House Greens MP Greg Barber said the party had a good chance of winning three Lower House seats at the next election and gaining the balance of power.
The labor Party jumped on Mr Ryan's 2006 state election warning that jobs would be lost if the Greens held a "position of influence" in the Parliament.
The Coalition is yet to reveal its preference deal for the 2010 election, but Mr Ryan said Labor's advertising campaign was the tactic of a desperate government.
Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan said regional Victorians could not trust Peter Ryan's word.
"In 2006 he said the Greens were a threat to regional jobs, but now he is playing political footsies with them," Ms Allan said.
