Wednesday, 14 August 2024

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:42): (1049) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Premier, and the action that I seek is that she accepts the recommendations of the Electoral Matters Committee by finally abolishing group voting tickets. This place is the only Parliament in the country that still uses an undemocratic group voting system that disempowers people from making their own choices on which parties they elect and actively elects people based on their ability to pay a guy $55,000 – no joke. Ninety per cent of people in Victorian elections vote above the line, which means that they can choose one political party and leave the rest up to the party. Currently what happens with the preferences from this vote is decided by the political parties in secret. Deals are made, and parties can work with whoever they want, meaning that people may vote for a progressive party and find their preference heading off on a little magical journey that may elect or support a much less progressive party – and they would never even know. It has led to people being elected to this Parliament with as little as 2500 votes from a region of around half a million people and left 35,000, who had all voted for another candidate, unrepresented. That is not how representative democracy works, but it is an example of how backroom deals are used to harvest the preferences of many micro-parties and direct them in the same direction for a fee – the $55,000.

No shade on current MPs who have been legitimately elected through the current system, but I cannot help but think about how many incredible people with strong support in their community have not been elected. I cannot help but think about all the incredible people who may not have even put their hand up because they knew their efforts would be meaningless to fight a system designed to keep them out – the diverse and marginalised people that in a fair system could feel empowered to run. We are the last place in the country to keep this unfair and undemocratic system. Labor, please get rid of group voting tickets and put the preference whisperer out of business.