An inquiry into Victoria’s “undemocratic” upper-house voting system is likely to be shelved until after the election.
Victoria’s Legislative Council is the only jurisdiction in Australia where group voting tickets are still allowed. Under the system, voters choose just one party above the line on the ballot paper, after which their preferences are allocated by the party.
Voters can vote below the line – but less than 9% did so at the 2018 state election.
In 2020, Victorian parliament’s Electoral Matters Committee considered upper house and group voting in its review of the 2018 election.
The Labor-chaired committee said proposed changes “involve serious and complex issues” that could “potentially have significant consequences for the makeup of Victoria’s parliament” and recommended a separate inquiry be held.
Guardian Australia has spoken to several members of the committee, who doubt an inquiry will go ahead before the 26 November election.
Asked about the potential reforms, a Victorian government spokesperson said: “The government has no plans to change the upper house voting system.”
ABC election analyst Antony Green said group voting tickets have been exploited by “preference whisperers”, who are paid to help candidates win despite receiving a small proportion of first-preference votes.
“It is inconceivable, it is absolutely impossible for some of these parties elected under group voting tickets to get elected under their own steam,” he said.
“They are entirely and utterly dependent on preference negotiations and because they make the ballot paper so big and so complex, voters just use the ticket and then someone else determines the outcome.”
Even preference whisperer Glenn Druery expected voting reform after the 2018 election.
Druery worked with eight of the 11 crossbenchers elected. They included Transport Matters Party’s Rod Barton, who holds the title for being elected in Victoria with the smallest number of first preference votes: 2,508 out of 418,532 votes or 0.6%.
Eight micro parties directed their third preferences – their first preference after their own two candidates – to Barton.
In the South Eastern Metropolitan region, Liberal Democrat David Limbirck won a seat with 0.84% of the first preference vote. Sustainable Australia’s Clifford Hayes won a seat in the Southern Metropolitan Region with 1.32% of first preference votes, ending Greens MP Sue Pennicuik’s 12-year career. Pennicuik received about 13% of first preference votes.
Green described the process as akin to a “lottery”.
“It is an absolute abrogation of democracy to conduct elections under a format where a small cabal of people engage in swapping preferences, which completely undermines the will of the electorate,” he said.
But Limbirck said parties other than Labor, the Liberals and the Greens received about 22% of first preferences votes in the upper house, with the chamber largely reflecting that.
“There is a high level of diversity within the upper house and I think that it works,” he said.
Late last year, Western Australia became the latest jurisdiction to abolish group voting tickets after the Daylight Saving party won a seat with just 98 first preference votes, or 0.2% of the vote, and the Legalise Cannabis party won another with 2% at the March poll.
One Victorian MP said there was no appetite for reform given the government has successfully worked with crossbenchers to pass legislation and would not want to hand more seats to the Greens, who are their main rivals in several inner Melbourne lower house seats.
However, Geoffrey Robinson, a senior lecturer in politics at Deakin University said the government may have changed their stance given the Greens willingness to work with them throughout the pandemic.
“Members of what you could call the ‘micro party right’ on the crossbench have been incredibly hostile to Labor throughout Covid-19,” he said.
“So you have to wonder if that experience may bias Labor towards working with the Greens – or at the very least preferencing them over other parties.”
Victorian Greens Leader Samantha Ratnam conceded her party would probably be the main beneficiary of the reform.
“But that’s because people voted for us. It’s not because we’ve gamed the system. We get about 10% of the vote,” she said.
Last year, Ratnam wrote to the committee urging them to initiate such an inquiry, but they declined to do so.
She also moved an amendment to electoral reform legislation last month to abolish group voting tickets but didn’t receive support from any other MPs.
“It’s unbelievable that the Victorian Labor government won’t embrace reform that will lead to a healthier democracy and for voters’ views to be represented in the parliament because that’s what this is fundamentally about,” Ratnam said.
Green predicts without reform the 2022 Victorian upper house ballot paper will be “stacked with minor parties”, including those that are anti-vaccination.
“Prior to reform, the 2013 Senate ballot paper was so big they started issuing magnifying glasses. Victoria might have that at this election, there’s a strong chance that all the ballot papers will be doubled decked because they’ll have so many parties,” Green said.
“I imagine we’ll also have multiple anti-vax parties.”
It’s a concern shared by Ratnam.
“We know with the voting system in Victoria it’s quite possible that those groups could get elected because you need a fraction of the vote and you can have a seat in parliament and that is so dangerous,” she said.
“We’re really worried about the impact that will have on the health of democracy in Victoria.”
Robinson believes abolishing group voting tickets does not go far enough. He said the state’s upper house should be a single electorate rather than five, like in New South Wales. It would mean the quota for election is small, guaranteeing the representation of minor parties.
“Having a statewide system will ensure a more accurate representation and enable some genuine micro parties to get a say,” he said.
