2023-08-10
The Victorian Greens have welcomed an indication from the Victorian Labor Government that it supports the abolition of the state’s undemocratic upper house voting system.
But the Greens stress the reform must happen in time for the 2026 state election, and not after.
Earlier today, the Government announced to the Electoral Matters Committee its ‘in-principle support’ for the abolition of group voting tickets, the strongest indication the Government has given to date that reform might be on the horizon.
However, when asked if they wanted to see them abolished by the next election, the Government wavered and said they wanted to see it in conjunction with broader upper house reform, which would require a referendum.
Victorian Greens integrity spokesperson, Dr Tim Read, said for years and across multiple election cycles the experts had been clear: we need to get rid of group voting tickets.
He said it was good to see the Government making promising noises, but that it would be disappointing if the Government used broader upper house reform as an excuse to kick this can down the road until after the next election.
The group voting system, which is no longer used anywhere else in the country, allows micro-parties to game the system by paying tens of thousands of dollars to ‘preference whisperers’ who then coordinate group voting tickets.
This leaves many voters completely unaware of who they will elect in the upper house.
It has also previously seen a number of candidates with very small primary votes elected to the upper house, at the expense of others who had received ten times as many votes.
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens integrity spokesperson, Dr Tim Read:
“The outdated voting system in Victoria’s upper house means people can get elected based on backroom deals, when they only get less than one per cent of the vote.
“But the reality is, the Victorian Labor Government has been happy to maintain the status quo while it means an upper house cross-bench filled with micro-parties that are easy to divide and conquer.
“But nothing about the system is fair or democratic. When a candidate is getting elected over someone with ten times the vote, you know something is wrong.
“It’s good to hear the Government supporting the abolition of group voting tickets, but they spent all of last term looking for ways of delaying action, and they need to commit to reform before the next election.
“We need group voting reform now, not after 2026, or our elections will continue to be open to corruption and our upper house will not represent the people it serves.”