Why Victoria’s upper house voting regime leaves much to be desired, allowing secret backroom deals and preference swaps

Victoria’s democratic system is a bit dodgy.

This is not some unqualified statement from a keyboard warrior on social media, but a view shared by many across the political spectrum when critiquing Victoria’s upper house voting regime.

The state is the only one in the Commonwealth to still use group voting tickets (GVTs), an upper house voting method that allows secret backroom deals and preference swaps that allow MPs to be elected to the Legislative Council with tiny primary votes.

With talk of a leadership challenge resurfacing late this week — some are even saying a coup could be mounted within weeks — reform of GVTs will not be an immediate priority for Premier Jacinta Allan. However, there is an acknowledgement that the voting method must change.

It’s an easy system for voters to simply vote for one box on the ballot and let the party distribute preferences. But it also means voters have no idea where their all-important preferences go.

Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell was elected with just 1.53 per cent of the primary vote in her Northern Victoria Region seat at the last election.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. This week, the Victorian Electoral Commission alerted the public that it had begun the process to register “Free Palestine” as a political party.

The aspiring party’s founder, provocateur Avi Yemeni, who runs a right-wing news site and is staunchly pro-Israel, has brazenly said that the party is a vote-harvesting tool for the right’s cause.

His video promoting the idea references One Nation.

“What is the one issue that unites all useful idiots from the far-left, to the fringe right, to certain immigrant cultures that have imported their hate? Free Palestine,” Mr Yemini said in an online video.

“Imagine if they walked into a polling booth and they saw Free Palestine Party? It’s genius.”

Calls for reform grow louder

There’s a swag of other wannabe parties with a deceptive name, and the rise of such overt tactics has made the calls for reform louder.

“Deceptive behaviour in democracy is dishonourable and disgraceful. It doesn’t matter who is doing it, it’s unacceptable,” Premier Jacinta Allan said on Wednesday.

“If parties are saying one thing, and they are actually another, well that is dishonest.”

So will the premier reform group voting tickets? 

Officially the government has yet to make a decision. But it is looking likely the state will reform the system in the remaining weeks of parliament before November’s election.

Despite leadership murmurings, no-one has mounted a challenge

The premier does have a lot on her plate. Her government is struggling in the polls and her popularity is low.

Murmurings about her leadership have once again begun.

Labor MPs are becoming increasingly concerned about their own political mortality.

But to date, no-one has put their hand up to challenge, nor has any MP broken ranks and publicly declared the party needs to change course.

Speculation about possible challenges from ministers Ben Carroll, Gabrielle Williams and Steve Dimopoulos have been exhumed but remain unconfirmed.

MPs are increasingly pessimistic about Labor’s chances in November and many blame the premier’s performance. 

But multiple MPs have told the ABC that no-one is counting numbers, or has approached them to support a challenge — yet.

Greens, One Nation could benefit if group voting tickets scrapped

As for GVT reform, it’s an idea that won multi-party support at a parliamentary inquiry last year.

But supporting a committee idea and actual legislation in parliament is a different matter.

The ramifications are big. The biggest winners from scrapping GVTs are likely to be One Nation and the Greens.

Even with group voting tickets, One Nation’s current polling has the party on track to win at least eight seats in the 40-member upper house.

Despite this risk, many in the Labor Party particularly know that GVTs cannot remain in place.

Preference whisperer Glenn Druery has made a career out of doing deals with minor parties to get elected with group voting tickets.

“If they get rid of group voting tickets now, it will play into One Nation’s hands,” Mr Druery said.

He believes parties such as Free Palestine will fail to get registered, because they won’t have enough real members when the VEC does its audit.

But he suspects that was never the real intention.

“The government is playing into their radical right hands,” he said.

Mr Druery estimates that without group voting tickets, One Nation could win as many as 16 seats in the upper house, emerging as the biggest party in the Legislative Council.

He estimates all the micro parties will be wiped out, along with the Nationals, and the Liberals reduced to as few as eight seats, with Labor winning only a couple more than their rivals.

The Greens would increase their numbers from four.

Mr Druery believes Free Palestine and anti-lockdown campaigner Monica Smit’s Save the Environment proposal were a tactic to embarrass the state to abolish GVTs.

Talk of scrapping the system nothing new

Labor insiders disagree, saying the idea to scrap the system have been discussed for years.

“As a democratic principle, it needs to be fixed. It’s dodgy,” one senior Labor insider said.

There also a view that GVT reform might actually help Labor retain some upper house seats.

Greens leader Ellen Sandell says it is “ludicrous that Labor hasn’t gotten rid of this dodgy preference-whispering system before now”.

“Labor has no excuses left, they must get rid of this dodgy system before the election or they will be letting people deceive voters and buy seats in our parliament.”

The window for change of voting system, and leader, is rapidly closing.