Proposed reforms to improve election fairness and accessibility

The change is just one of a raft of recommendations made by the Electoral Matters Committee following its inquiry into the conduct of the 2022 election. 

The Committee found that parties and independent candidates struggled to find volunteers to campaign at voting centres to cover the early voting period, meaning voters did not have the opportunity to receive how-to-vote cards and information about all candidates.  

Shortening the voting period would also give the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) more time between the deadline for candidate nominations and the beginning of voting. This will reduce some of the pressures experienced by the VEC, parties and candidates to produce ballot papers, how-to-vote cards and other election material.  

The cross-party Committee inquired into the conduct of the 2022 Victorian state election, including the experiences of voters, candidates, parties and other stakeholders. 

The 2022 election was the largest in the state’s history, with record numbers of voters and candidates. With this increasing scale came increasing complexity for the VEC and others.  

‘Our overall assessment is that the election was conducted fairly and democratically, though there were some areas where improvements are needed,’ said Committee Chair Luba Grigorovitch.  

The Committee made 98 recommendations in total.  

‘We received 114 submissions as well as submissions in person from the public, and that is what democracy looks like. Their contributions were absolutely invaluable to the Committee,’ said Ms Grigorovitch in her speech to the Legislative Assembly.

“ ‘Our overall assessment is that the election was conducted fairly and democratically, though there were some areas where improvements are needed.' ”

Committee Chair Luba Grigorovitch

In addition to the shortened timetable the report also made recommendations to improve the VEC’s training procedures, establish an enforceable code of conduct and limit the number of campaigners at a voting centres. 

The report also recommended introducing truth in political advertising laws.  

The inquiry suggested reforming the Legislative Council voting system to be like the one used for the Commonwealth Senate. This would include eliminating group voting tickets and allowing voters to indicate multiple preferences above the line. 

Speaking in the Legislative Council Member for Western Metropolitan David Ettershank described the proposed voting reforms as having a ‘chilling effect on democracy in Victoria’. 

He added that the elimination of group voting tickets would work to the advantage of the major parties and the Greens but posed ‘a real threat to the fastest growing area of electoral support – the smaller parties, the new parties and the independents’.

But the same proposal was welcomed by the Member for Brunswick Tim Read in his speech to the Legislative Assembly.

‘Victoria is the only place in Australia where if you vote above the line, as 90 per cent of people do, you cannot direct your own preferences; instead the party you vote for does this, using a system known as group voting tickets, meaning parties can make backroom deals and decide who gets your second and third preferences and so on,’ he said.

He said this resulted in anomalies where, for example, a candidate at the 2018 election was elected with just 2500 votes, while candidates with 35,000 votes failed to be elected.

South Eastern Metropolitan MP Lee Talaramis said the Committee was pleased to see a higher proportion of people enrolled and fewer people voting informally than at previous elections.  

But he highlighted a few areas for improvement. 

'The Committee would also like to see more done to support the participation of people with disability, including the development of a framework for improving the inclusion of people with intellectual and cognitive disability,’ he said. 

This included recommending the VEC ‘return to its previous practice of mailing hard copies of the EasyVote guide to households’. 

He also noted the potential for ‘improvements that can be made to the VEC’s communications with electors from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds’. 

The government has six months to respond to the report.