Jacinta Allan’s government set to ban controversial micro-party preference deals before November state election
Micro parties with a small vote share will no longer be able to use complex preference agreements to enter parliament, with Allan’s government set to legislate against the practice when MPs return from winter break.
will move Pave the way for a very different upper house After November’s state election in Victoria, the Greens, Labor and the Coalition are likely to benefit at the expense of their crossover MPs. Based on current polls, One Nation will elect multiple candidates.
Three sources from Labor and Coalition speak out Age Prime Minister Jacinta Allan is preparing to introduce legislation at the end of July to end the controversial system known as group voting tickets, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity to detail internal discussions.
Victoria is the last jurisdiction in Australia still to use the practice, and there have been repeated calls for its removal, including two parliamentary inquiries during this period.
The complex plan allows micro parties to pool the preferences of Victorians who vote above the ballot line for the upper house. Candidates can get ahead of more popular parties through secret preference agreements that lead to the election of candidates who previously received less than 1 percent of the primary vote.
About 90 per cent of Victorians typically vote above the line.
Glenn Druery, the so-called “preference whisperer,” came to prominence for successfully putting together these deals and boosting the cash-for-seat business In a leaked video that emerged During the 2022 election campaign.
In recent months, right-wing figures Avi Yemini and Monica Smit have announced their own micro-parties, called the Free Palestine Party and the Save the Environment Party, respectively, both of which they say could garner votes to support conservative parties.
This has reignited concerns about group voting tickets and reignited calls for their removal.
The government had previously said it would respond to the parliamentary inquiry report examining the upper house reform published in December. This follows a separate investigation into the 2022 election.
A government spokesman reiterated on Saturday that they were considering the recommendations and would respond “in due course”.
Various sources told Age When parliament resumed on 28 July after a six-week winter break, it had been assured that the government would introduce legislation to end group voting tickets.
The legislation must be introduced in the first week of parliament as the Victorian Electoral Commission says the change must be completed by August before it can be used in state elections.
The Coalition and the Greens are understood to support this move as it is likely to increase their representation in parliament and ensure the bill is passed with a clear majority in both houses.
But the overhaul will disappoint the diverse group of MPs who often provide the decisive votes in passing government bills opposed by the Coalition.
Labor does not have a majority in the upper house this term and most legislation is being passed with the help of the Greens and challengers such as the Animal Justice Party’s Georgie Purcell and Marijuana Legal MPs Rachel Payne and David Ettershank.
There are currently 11 crossover MPs in the 40-seat upper house, including four Greens and One Nation’s sole MP, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell.
This imprint’s latest Resolve Political Monitor had Pauline Hanson’s party with a primary vote of 24 per cent; this would be enough to elect at least eight MPs if multiplied equally in each of the eight regions represented in the upper house.
Each region has five MPs, meaning parties need to receive 16.7 votes per quota (one-sixth of the total number of votes) to elect a member.
Crossbench MPs have previously argued that group voting tickets should not be abolished without wider reforms being implemented in the upper house; this was also taken into account in the investigation reported in December.
Purcell told Age: “The removal of the caucus voting document without any other changes will ensure that the balance of power is handed to One Nation.”
“Forcing a hasty fix before the election when the government has the ability to do so with the full parliament is not only disappointing, it is scary in this political climate,” he said.
Replacing the upper house’s eight districts with a single statewide electorate is among the options being considered. However, this would require a plebiscite and could not be implemented before November. This is more likely to be presented to voters at the next council election in 2028 or the state election in 2030.
The last parliamentary inquiry recommended that after the 2026 elections the government should create a new process to consider different views on the best structure for the upper house and allow for community feedback before deciding on the final model.
Victoria has already missed the chance to implement other proposed changes to how votes will be distributed; VEC said in March that at least 18 months of preparation would be needed to use the so-called “weighted inclusive Gregory method”.
Currently, when a candidate reaches the 16 percent quota, the excess votes are transferred to other candidates at a lower value. The parliamentary inquiry found that in some cases this could lead to some votes being counted more than others, violating the “one vote, one count” principle.
VEC said it supported moving to a “weighted” method but that trying to adjust counting systems in time for the 2026 poll would introduce “significant risks to the conduct of elections.” It is proposed that the law be enacted by April 2027 so that it can be used in the 2028 parliamentary elections.
Election analyst Antony Green, a vocal critic of group voting tickets, said in June that the Allan government: the app needs to be uninstalled to prevent the upper house election from turning into a farce.
“If something is not done next month, backroom deals will determine the composition of the Legislative Council,” he wrote.
“And if one were to look back, half a dozen or so crossover members drawn from unknown parties could only register a very small number of first preference votes.”
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Patrick Hatch is a transport correspondent for The Age and a former business correspondent.Connect with: X or email.
