Tuesday, 11 August 2026

 Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (19:16): (1765) My adjournment is to the Premier, and the action I seek is for the Premier to amend electoral laws to ensure that ballot papers reflect when a political candidate is a serial party hopper. Victorians deserve to know who is asking for their vote this November. Our state is at a crossroads. Under Labor, Victoria is hurtling towards $200 billion in crippling debt, we have the worst unemployment rate in the country, the worst credit rating of any state and the highest tax burden of any state. So this November’s Victorian election offers the opportunity for a fresh start under a Liberal–Nationals coalition. But there are those who appear to be trying to deceive the voters of this state and in particular the voters of Malvern, because you cannot claim to act with integrity and claim to be independent when you are a serial failed political party candidate.

This is the reality behind Christina Zigouras, who is shamelessly claiming to be an independent candidate in Malvern. Here is the truth. In 2014 Ms Zigouras ran as an endorsed Labor candidate for the seat of Sandringham, cosying up to Daniel Andrews in photographs and celebrating her strong Labor allegiance. Having failed to win the election, Ms Zigouras then ran as an endorsed candidate in the 2018 election. But she did not run for Labor this time, oh no; she ran as an endorsed Greens candidate – Labor one election, Greens the next, and not even running in Sandringham but this time for Northern Metropolitan Region on the other side of town. And now Christina Zigouras wants to con the people of Malvern into believing that she is an independent. Nowhere on Ms Zigouras’s website or media release does she admit she is a failed serial political candidate for the Labor and Greens political parties. How is that acting with integrity? If this party-hopping, electorate-hopping political grifter is showing integrity, then I am Australia’s next top model. And, guess what, I am not.

So I am calling on the Premier to introduce changes to electoral laws. We already have party logos on our names on ballot papers. Why shouldn’t a serial party-hopping candidate have all of her affiliations shown: a Labor logo struck through, a Greens logo struck through, a teal logo? I am not sure what that is – maybe a graphic of Simon Holmes à Court’s chequebook. I do not know, but whatever it is, we need to ensure that people are not deceived by people pretending to be independent who are in fact nothing but recycled failed Labor and Greens candidates. Victoria’s future is on the ballot this November. I am calling for the ballot paper to tell the truth about so-called independent candidates.