{"id":793856,"date":"2026-07-11T16:29:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T16:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793856\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T16:29:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T16:29:25","slug":"victoria-upper-house-reform-jacinta-allans-government-set-to-ban-controversial-micro-party-preference-deals-before-november-state-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793856\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria upper house reform: Jacinta Allan\u2019s government set to ban controversial micro-party preference deals before November state election"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Micro-parties which receive a tiny share of votes will no longer be able to use complex preference deals to leapfrog into parliament, with the Allan government to legislate against the practice when MPs return from the winter break.<\/p>\n

The move will pave the way for a vastly different upper house<\/a> in Victoria after November\u2019s state election, with the Greens, Labor and the Coalition likely to benefit at the expense of crossbench MPs. Based on current polling, One Nation would also elect several candidates.<\/p>\n

\"PremierPremier Jacinta Allan is preparing to legislate to overhaul voting rules for Victoria\u2019s upper house.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

Three sources across Labor and the Coalition, speaking to The Age on condition of anonymity to detail internal deliberations, said Premier Jacinta Allan was preparing to introduce legislation at the end of July to end the controversial system known as group voting tickets.<\/p>\n

Victoria is the last jurisdiction in Australia which still uses the practice and there have been repeated calls for its removal, including from two parliamentary inquiries this term.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Reignite<\/a><\/p>\n

The complex scheme allows micro-parties to pool preferences from Victorians who vote above the line on the ballot paper for the upper house. Candidates can leapfrog more popular parties through backroom preference deals that have previously led to the election of candidates with a primary vote of less than 1 per cent.<\/p>\n

About 90 per cent of Victorians typically vote above the line.<\/p>\n

So-called \u201cpreference whisperer\u201d Glenn Druery rose to prominence for successfully stitching together these deals, and spruiked his cash-for-seats business in a leaked video that emerged<\/a> during the 2022 election campaign.<\/p>\n

In recent months, right-wing figures Avi Yemini and Monica Smit have unveiled their own micro-parties \u2013 called the Free Palestine Party and the Save the Environment Party respectively \u2013 which both have indicated could harvest votes to funnel to conservative parties.<\/p>\n

This has revived concerns about group voting tickets and reignited calls for them to be removed.<\/p>\n

The government has previously said it would respond to a parliamentary inquiry report released in December that examined upper house reform. It followed a separate probe of the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

A government spokesperson reiterated on Saturday that they were considering the recommendations and would respond \u201cin due course\u201d.<\/p>\n

Several sources told The Age they had been assured the government would legislate to end group voting tickets when parliament resumed on July 28 after a six-week winter break.<\/p>\n

The legislation must be introduced in the first week of parliament because the Victorian Electoral Commission says the change must be finalised by August to be eligible for use in the state election.<\/p>\n

The Coalition and Greens are understood to be supportive of the move, as it will likely increase their representation in parliament, giving the legislation a clear majority to be passed in both houses.<\/p>\n

But the overhaul will frustrate crossbench MPs who often provide the deciding votes in passing government legislation that is opposed by the Coalition.<\/p>\n

\"AnimalAnimal Justice MP Georgie Purcell is among crossbenchers who have argued against the change that would harm their chances of re-election.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

Labor does not command a majority in the upper house this term, and most legislation is passed with assistance from the Greens and crossbenchers such as Animal Justice Party\u2019s Georgie Purcell and Legalise Cannabis MPs Rachel Payne and David Ettershank.<\/p>\n

There are currently 11 crossbench MPs in the 40-seat upper house, including four Greens and One Nation\u2019s sole MP, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell.<\/p>\n

This masthead\u2019s most recent Resolve Political Monitor had Pauline Hanson\u2019s party on a primary vote of 24 per cent, which would be enough to see it elect at least eight MPs if replicated evenly across each of the eight regions represented in the upper house.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Each region has five MPs, meaning parties need to attract a 16.7 per quota \u2013 one-sixth of the total number of votes \u2013 to elect one member.<\/p>\n

Crossbench MPs have previously argued group voting tickets should not be removed before more sweeping reforms to the upper house are implemented, which was also considered by the inquiry that reported in December.<\/p>\n

Purcell told The Age: \u201cAbolishing the group voting ticket without any other changes alongside it will see the balance of power handed to One Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo force through a bandaid fix in a rush before the election when the government had the ability to do this alongside the entire parliament isn\u2019t just disappointing, it is frightening in this political climate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Replacing the upper house\u2019s eight regions with a single statewide electorate is among the options under consideration. But that will require a plebiscite and cannot be implemented before November. It would be more likely to be put to voters at the next council election in 2028, or at the 2030 state election.<\/p>\n

The last parliamentary inquiry recommended that after the 2026 election, the government should set up a new process to consider different views about the best structure for the upper house, allowing for community feedback before deciding on a final model.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Victorian Electoral Commission says the overhaul must be finalised by August so they can be ready for November\u2019s state election.Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MP Jeff Bourman said that scrapping the system without wider reform was like \u201cthrowing the [electoral] cards in the air and seeing where they land\u201d. \u201cThe state of Victoria will be the ones to suffer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Victoria has already missed the chance to implement other recommended changes to how votes are distributed, with the VEC saying in March it would need at least 18 months\u2019 preparation to use the so-called \u201cweighted inclusive Gregory method\u201d.<\/p>\n

Currently, when a candidate reaches the 16 per cent quota, surplus votes are transferred to other candidates at a reduced value. The parliamentary inquiry found that in some circumstances, this can lead to some votes counting for more than other votes, violating the principle of \u201cone vote, one value\u201d.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Robbie<\/a><\/p>\n

The VEC said it supported moving to a \u201cweighted\u201d method but attempting to adjust its counting systems in time for the 2026 poll would introduce \u201csubstantial risks to the delivery of the election\u201d. It suggested that it be introduced in legislation by April 2027 so it could be used in the 2028 council elections.<\/p>\n

In June, election analyst Antony Green \u2013 a vocal critic of group voting tickets \u2013 said the Allan government needed to abolish the practice<\/a> to avoid the upper house election becoming a farce.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf something isn\u2019t done in the next month, shady backroom deals will determine the composition of the Legislative Council,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if the past is anything to go by, there could be half-a-dozen crossbench members elected from unknown parties recording only a tiny first preference vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"PatrickPatrick Hatch<\/a> is transport reporter at The Age and a former business reporter.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-793856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}