The Victorian Greens have secured major democratic reforms for the City of Melbourne, passing amendments through Parliament today to abolish dodgy group voting tickets and end automatic enrolment for businesses and non-resident property owners.
These two rules have significantly skewed democracy in the City of Melbourne towards big business and non-residents, and against the interests of local residents – and the Greens say they’re proud to have finally brought real democracy back to the City of Melbourne.
The changes finally abolish group voting tickets across the country, with the City of Melbourne the last remaining jurisdiction still using the undemocratic system.
Melbourne has also remained an outlier by automatically enrolling businesses and non-resident property owners to vote: significantly disenfranchising local residents in the City of Melbourne.
Local residents have made up only around 40 per cent of the electoral roll, with business owners and out-of-area property owners making up the majority.
The win follows years of Greens campaigning to scrap group voting tickets and fix the City of Melbourne’s uniquely undemocratic electoral system, which has tilted power towards corporate and property interests over the people who actually live in the city.
The Greens’ reforms will give residents a greater say over who represents them and, for the first time, allow voters to determine their own preferences instead of having them stitched up through backroom preference deals.
The Greens also moved amendments to ban developer donations, in line with IBAC recommendations, and stop businesses receiving 2 votes (while residents only receive 1) but Labor voted against these and blocked them from passing.
The Greens have vowed to keep fighting at the election to abolish these final two rules that skew our democracy in favour of big money and against residents.
As stated by Leader of the Victorian Greens and Member for Melbourne, Ellen Sandell:
“Today the Greens have finally killed off dodgy, undemocratic ‘preference whispering’ and ripped out some of the worst parts of the City of Melbourne’s warped electoral system.
“Local government is supposed to be democracy at its most local. The people who live here and live with the decisions and shouldn’t have their say overruled by backroom preference deals and outweighed by businesses and property investors who don’t even live here.
“The reforms we’ve secured are truly transformative and will put real power back in the hands of Melbourne’s community – not big corporate business interests. But as always, Labor is still refusing to finish the job, Labor will continue to allow businesses to get two votes, to residents’ one, and Labor will continue to allow unlimited corporate donations to Councillors and candidates.
“The Greens will keep fighting, because democracy should belong to people – not corporations, property interests or whoever has the deepest pockets.
“The choice voters have this November at the state election is between the Greens, who fight for getting big money out of politics, or Labor who want big corporate interests to keep having out-sized influence on our decision-making.”
