Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Electoral Matters Committee

Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2022 Victorian State Election

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (17:31): I was going to talk about something else tonight, but I decided that it would probably be pertinent to make another contribution on the Electoral Matters Committee’s report on the inquiry into the conduct of the Victorian election in 2022, which was tabled in July last year. I have made a couple of contributions using this report as a springboard, because I think it has some really interesting things to say about what is happening to our democracy and the importance that trust in Victoria public institutions has. It makes some reflections on these matters in the context of the conduct of the 2022 state election, but I think it is relevant to repeat those words outside the election context. The committee’s report on page 147 says:

The Committee was disappointed to see members of Parliament amplifying inaccurate information that undermined trust in the electoral system.

The report goes on to say:

Members can give authority to information and therefore have a duty to be cautious in what they say.

I think these are really wise words from the Electoral Matters Committee. It has been something that has been on my mind a little bit recently. Obviously we had a discussion earlier today about the way that members of the Liberal Party have been amplifying mistruths on their social media platforms about matters of community safety in an attempt to generate mistrust in community safety initiatives that they in fact voted for. I think we do have a duty to call people out on that, not only because of the wise words of the Electoral Matters Committee in articulating why spreading lies undermines confidence in our democracy but also because as members of Parliament we have responsibilities and obligations to support our institutions and support a discourse that does not perpetuate mistruths. What we have been hearing in the course of the debate about machetes are words that are trivialising and untrue from members of the Liberal Party, and I think that warrants reflection because of the seriousness.

The other thing I will say, on a very similar theme, is we had some evidence at a public hearing of the Environment and Planning Committee’s inquiry into community consultation practices last week from the Municipal Association of Victoria, whose head of democracy and diplomacy gave some excellent evidence in a public session about the way that disinformation is eroding trust in democracy. That evidence then made me go and have a read of some of the other work that Ms Ika Trijsburg has written about the corrosive impact that this information is having, particularly at local government level, and the efforts that the Municipal Association of Victoria in particular, but more broadly, is taking to try and strengthen support for our democratic institutions and some work and strategies that the Municipal Association of Victoria has undertaken to try and combat the corrosive effects of misinformation on our democracy. Misinformation and disinformation, incidentally, the World Economic Forum identified as one of the top global risks that we face across the community. The World Economic Forum found that disinformation is a growing and global challenge with profound impacts on cities and local democracy.

I would encourage members to reflect on the report from the Electoral Matters Committee and take heed of their advice on the responsibilities that we have as members in the way that we choose to give authority to information, and that when we go out as members and spread things that are not true, it has a corrosive effect on our democracy. We need to be accountable to ourselves and to each other collectively and make sure that we do not tell lies.