Legislation ends preference harvesting ahead of November election
Melbourne — Victoria has become the last Australian jurisdiction to scrap group voting tickets after parliament passed legislation on Tuesday that hands control of upper house preferences back to voters.
The Electoral Amendment (Miscellaneous Matters) Bill 2026, introduced by the Allan Labor government late last month, passed both houses of the Victorian Parliament on 11 August. It now heads to the Governor for royal assent and will apply at the state election on 28 November.
Under the old system, voters who marked a single “1” above the line on Legislative Council ballot papers handed control of their preferences to the party’s registered group voting ticket. Critics long argued this enabled “preference whispering” — complex backroom deals that allowed micro-party candidates to win seats with tiny primary votes, sometimes under 1 per cent.
The reform gained fresh urgency in 2026 after conservative commentator Avi Yemini, of Rebel News, registered the Free Palestine party with the explicit aim of using the group voting ticket system against itself. Yemini announced the plan in late April, openly stating he intended to attract progressive or pro-Palestine voters with the party name and then direct preferences to right-wing parties such as One Nation. The Victorian Electoral Commission registered the party on 5 August, confirming Yemini as its registered officer after he secured the required membership and overcame objections.
Yemini and his supporters claimed the registration demonstrated how easily the system could be manipulated and forced the government’s hand. “Funny how they only acted after we showed them exactly how it could be used against them,” he posted as the bill advanced. Similar tactics by others, including the proposed “Save the Environment Party,” had already drawn attention, but the Free Palestine registration intensified media coverage, Greens campaigning and parliamentary debate.
“Victorians deserve to know where their preferences go and decide who gets elected — not faceless people making backroom deals,” the government said when introducing the bill. The reform requires voters to number at least five groups above the line. Preferences will then flow to candidates in the order listed below the line for each chosen group. Savings provisions ensure most incomplete ballots remain formal.
The change brings Victoria into line with the Commonwealth Senate and every other state. Parliamentary Electoral Matters Committee inquiries had repeatedly recommended abolition, finding that group voting tickets produced results voters neither expected nor understood and had undermined trust in the system. The high-profile registration of misleadingly named parties in 2026 was widely seen as accelerating the timing of the legislation.
Support for the bill was broad. Labor, the Coalition and the Greens backed the measure. Government speakers highlighted past elections in which candidates secured seats through preference flows rather than direct voter support. In parliamentary debate, MPs referenced Yemini’s parties as illustrating the system’s vulnerabilities.
Crossbench micro-party MPs criticised the reform as a rushed “death knell” for smaller parties that could hand greater influence to larger groups, including One Nation, depending on preference flows. Some argued broader structural changes to the regional system should have accompanied the abolition.
The Victorian Electoral Commission had urged prompt action so the new rules could be implemented cleanly before the election. With royal assent pending, Victoria’s upper house voting system will operate under voter-directed preferences for the first time in more than two decades.
The reform closes a chapter that began with the introduction of group voting tickets in 2003. While committee recommendations and long-standing criticism laid the groundwork, the 2026 registration of the Free Palestine party by Avi Yemini became a prominent catalyst that highlighted the system’s flaws and contributed to the final push for change.
