Thursday, 19 March 2020

Committees

Electoral Matters Committee

Reference

Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure) (10:11): I move:

That this house refers an inquiry into the impact of social media on Victorian elections and Victoria’s electoral administration to the Electoral Matters Committee for consideration and report no later than 30 June 2021 and the committee should consider:

(1) the impact of social media technologies on the Victorian electoral process, focusing on how social media platforms are used for political communication and whether current regulations regarding the authorisation of political content on social media are appropriate;

(2) whether online electoral advertising is appropriately regulated in Victoria; and

(3) how social media and new communications technologies are used by the Victorian Electoral Commission and the Parliament to engage Victorians and improve knowledge of electoral processes.

Dr READ (Brunswick) (10:11): Last week I refused the Leader of the House leave to refer this motion to inquire into social media to the Electoral Matters Committee, and I just want to briefly explain why. I refused not because I object to this proposed topic but because this is the wrong time for this inquiry. That is why the Greens oppose this motion. The Electoral Matters Committee is completing its inquiry into the 2018 election, and the one issue raised by almost all submitters to this inquiry has been the urgent need to change the group voting system used to elect members of the Legislative Council. This is not new. Almost as many submitters made the same point to the Electoral Matters Committee’s 2014 state election inquiry, and that committee devoted a whole section of their report to the issue but deferred making a recommendation until after evidence from the introduction of the new voting method in the federal Senate in 2016 was available.

For people heading out—this is a short speech. There would be barely time to get a latte I reckon. We have had that Senate election and another state election. We have had enough evidence. In fact the Electoral Matters Committee has now determined that group voting is so important that it needs its very own inquiry. Expert witnesses appearing before the current inquiry into the 2018 election were directed not to comment on upper house voting reform but to save it—

Ms Spence: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, I just seek your guidance. The member for Brunswick seems to be adding in his contribution deliberations of the current committee into matters that have been discussed by that committee in their current inquiry that have not yet been tabled in a report. I would seek your guidance as to whether or not it is appropriate to speak about the deliberations of that committee in an inquiry where a report has not yet been tabled.

Dr READ: On the point of order, Acting Speaker, as I understand it I am only making points that have been publicly made already by the committee in its hearings to submitters and expert witnesses.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Carbines): I do not uphold the point of order this time, but clearly the clerks and I will continue to listen intently to the member for Brunswick and his contribution. I am sure he is aware of the rules that apply to all members.

Dr READ: I am grateful for the member for Yuroke’s advice and also to the Acting Speaker for being an audience.

The expert submitters do not actually really want to talk about social media. They want their analysis and evidence on the most important matter, upper house voting reform, to finally be heard. How can this issue not be prioritised over a topic barely raised in any of the 100-plus submissions received by the committee?

The method of voting must be resolved well ahead of the 2022 election. The Victorian Electoral Commission has indicated publicly that it would require up to a year to prepare. The intervening social media inquiry, if this referral goes ahead, potentially makes the VEC’s job a lot harder, if not impossible. For the Andrews government to defer an inquiry into upper house voting for up to a year while the Electoral Matters Committee investigates social media—a worthwhile topic, no doubt—displays disdain for the many submitters and experts who have made it clear to the committee on every occasion that group voting reform is the issue most important to them. It shows a disdain for Victorian voters, who at this stage appear no closer to having their votes reflect their preference rather than the preference of backroom operators and preference whisperers.

Delaying an inquiry into group voting assumes that nobody cared that group voting was manipulated in return for payments of up to $50 000 per legislative councillor elected. This referral hopes that nobody is concerned that the membership of our upper house is determined in part by a corrupt process. It relies on this topic being a bit dry and insufficiently newsworthy for this corruption to upset more than a few political purists and insiders. The government now has an opportunity to show that it values fairness in elections, that it believes election results should as closely as possible reflect the wishes of the voters and that parliamentary seats should not be available for less than the price of a Toyota HiLux.

The Greens urge the government to refer group voting to the Electoral Matters Committee such that there is sufficient time for the VEC to implement recommended changes before the next election.

House divided on motion:

Motion agreed to.