2023-08-11
The Victorian Greens have said the Premier’s attempts to yet again kick group voting reform down the road calls into question his own motives ahead of the 2026 state election.
Yesterday, a Victorian Labor representative announced to the Electoral Matters Committee the party’s ‘in-principle support’ for the abolition of group voting tickets.
This is something experts have been calling for for years, and was the strongest indication Labor had given to date that reform might be on the horizon.
However, when pressed on the issue further, the representative said Labor wanted to see it in conjunction with broader upper house reform, which would require a referendum and see any group voting reform delayed until after the next state election.
In a later press conference the Premier even suggested that politicians advocating in favour of group voting reform had ulterior motives.
Victorian Greens integrity spokesperson, Dr Tim Read, said the Premier’s own motives should be called into question given he yet again seemed to be delaying reform.
Dr Read added that it was disappointing Victoria remained the only state that still used group voting tickets, which distorted the will of voters and allowed parties to game the system.
Group voting, 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.
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens integrity spokesperson, Dr Tim Read:
“True to form, the Premier is again trying to kick group voting reform down the road for a future election cycle. And that’s because it suits Labor to keep it.
“Every other state and territory has abolished group voting tickets because they recognise how undemocratic and flawed they are.
“Yet rather than fix the system here as well, for years it seems the Premier has preferred to deal with a motley crew of Glenn Druery’s ‘family’ on the crossbench rather than the Greens.
“This has meant our group voting system has stuck around like a bad rash.
“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.”