Wednesday, 21 September 2022

Petitions

Following petitions presented to house:

Electoral reform

The Petition of certain citizens of the State of Victoria draws to the attention of the Legislative Council that the processes undertaken for election into the Victorian Parliament should not be compromised and that a transparent democratic process needs to be sought out at all times.

Interference through financial gain, by an individual or entity, needs to be deemed a criminal act and a transparent process must be determined. This includes, and is not limited to, taxpayer-funded positions being used as transactional arrangements or agreements.

State taxes services the salaries of state-based employees and as a result all state-based employees should remain in the state of Victoria during their allocated office hours. Exceptions should lie with the decision of the Clerk of the Parliament. Details outlining such deliberations should be tabled by the relevant Member of Parliament overseeing the employee.

The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Council call on the Government to introduce legislation that will criminalise the exchange of consultant goods and services, including by persons in taxpayer-funded positions of employment, in relation to preferencing deals for Legislative Council elections (also known as ‘preference harvesting’), with a minimum penalty of $400,000 or up to 12 months imprisonment for unlawful behaviour, and in the interest of transparency, require Group Voting Tickets (GVTs) to be submitted to the Victorian Electoral Commission no less than four weeks prior to election day, with all individual candidates and parties to print their GVTs on the reverse of their how-to-vote cards.

By Mr ATKINSON (Eastern Metropolitan) (358 signatures).

Laid on table.

Mr ATKINSON:(By leave) I think it is important when anybody comes to you requesting support for a petition to be presented to the house that we should give the opportunity for that petition to be laid before the house. It does not mean that the particular person who is sponsoring that petition actually agrees with the contents of it and supports those comments that are contained within that petition, but it is important that the petition is laid before the house.