What you need-to-know about EVERY SINGLE PARTY running in the Victorian state election | 6NewsAU
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  • Writer's picture6 News Australia
    • Aug 29, 2022

What you need-to-know about EVERY SINGLE PARTY running in the Victorian state election

Updated: Oct 2, 2022

Many parties that contested the 2018 election are running again - but there are several that aren't.

14 parties are currently registered with the Victorian Electoral Commission, while many more are aiming to run in the November state election.


Here's the current breakdown:

 

Parties with representation


Labor has held government for all but 4 years in Victoria since 2000, in what’s been seen as a long lasting dominance in state politics. Premier Dan Andrews became party leader in 2010, while Jacinta Allan became deputy earlier this year.


They lost 2 upper house MPs as a result of resignations since the 2018 election, but their numbers have remained the same in the lower house. But the party hasn’t had a smooth run in its two most recent terms. Labor has faced repeated branch stacking & corruption allegations, and now a large number of MPs aren’t re-contesting their seats. Amongst those include 4 senior ministers, all of which have left the cabinet & aren’t contesting in November. The Liberals are currently led by Matthew Guy with David Southwick as deputy. Guy resigned as party leader after the 2018 election loss, leading to Michael O’Brien becoming opposition leader. But he didn’t even make it to the election, with Guy returning after a spill in September 2021, following an earlier one from Brad Battin in March. Their last premier was Denis Napthine, who became premier after the resignation of Ted Baillieu. The Nationals are currently the junior partner in the Coalition, led by Peter Walsh. They’ve had 3 Premiers in their history. But the party is under threat from rural independents and currently have 6 lower house seats as well as just 1 upper house seat, amid growing claims that the party is struggling to remain a significant force in state politics.

Animal Justice currently has 1 MP, Andy Meddick in the Western Victoria Region. He was elected with a party vote of 2.77 percent, and according to The Age, voted with Labor’s position 83.2 percent of the time - the most of any upper house crossbencher. Recently, the party - which is based around an animal welfare platform - has been calling for “Veticare” - essentially, medicare for pets. Notable, they’ve campaigned against duck shooting - but calls for a ban have been resisted by Dan Andrews. The Democratic Labour Party was formed back in the 50s as a result of Labor’s third split in their history.


Expelled Liberal MP Bernie Finn joined them earlier this year.


He was kicked out of the Libs after expressing a number of controversial views, including that raped women should be denied abortion access and that he was praying for abortion to be banned in Australia following Roe v Wade being overturned. Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party had 3 MPs elected to the upper house in 2018, although one left before being sworn in. The party has been described as having a hardline law-and-order stance, calling for “more jail less bail,” as well as parole & domestic violence law reform. Former Senator & party namesake Derryn Hinch will be running in the Southern Metropolitan Region. The Independence Party was formed this year by ex-Hinch & independent MLC Catherine Cumming. Cumming was a figure seen at a number of anti-lockdown & anti-government protests last year, with her party claiming they’re “free from influence or control.” Like many running this year, the party’s platform includes pushing for honesty and integrity. They’re planning to run in every single seat. The Liberal Democrats have 2 MLCs - David Limbrick & Tim Quilty - who like Cumming, have strongly pushed against things like lockdowns, as well as vaccine mandates. The party is described by many as a “freedom party” for those very stances. The LDP have also pushed a pro-free speech view, even seeing them oppose a ban on Nazi symbols on the basis it was a free speech issue. Limbrick ran unsuccessfully in the senate in May before returning to the legislative council after a brief absence. The New Democrats were formed by Labor-turned-independent MLC Kaushaliya Vaghela, who resigned from the party after crossing the floor - which is against party rules. Reason is led by Upper House MP Fiona Patten, and has pushed for drug reform, the decriminalisation of sex work, and expanding abortion access. In terms of accountability, they want “all politicians to be legally bound and required to act in the public interest,” and IBAC’s powers expanded. Shooters, Fishers and Farmers currently have Jeff Bourman as their only MLC. According to the party website, he started shooting rabbits when he was 14 and got interested in bigger rifles by the time he was 18. Policies have included expanding self-defence rights and non-lethal means of protection, and taking a scientific evidence-based approach to climate change action. Sustainable Australia - officially Sustainable Australia Party, Stop Overdevelopment/Corruption, currently has 1 MLC, Clifford Hayes. They say they don’t have a left wing or right wing ideology & have called for “transparent democracy.” Hayes himself has said we need to return immigration levels to what it was before the spike of around 15 years ago to around 70,000 per year. He’s also pushing a transition to renewable energy.

The Greens are a pretty well-known party so we probably don’t need to explain who they are, but in terms of recent activity, the party has faced allegations of transphobia from some of its members.


They’ve also protested a Labor bill which "would see protestors threatened with fines and jail time for trying to protect native forests.”


The party has 3 MLAs & could expand that, with 1 MLC as well. They lost 4 MLCs back in 2018, which they blamed on preference deals. Transport Matters has a focus on - as you’d expect - transport, including extending the free tram zone in a bid to increase tourism, and have also backed the Suburban Rail Loop.


Their only MLC, Rod Barton, was elected in 2018 with just 0.62 percent of the vote.

 

Parties running again


The Australian Federation Party ran in 2018 under their old name of the Country Party.


They’ve been described by some as a freedom party, with policies including a COVID response that is "not driven by panic, incomplete evidence and totalitarian policy.”


They say on their website they’re against the incompetence and corruption of Labor, the Liberals, the Greens & the Nationals.


The party has had to re-register for this year's election.

The Health Australia Party, originally the Natural Medicine Party, has been accused of being anti-vax although they deny that, and in 2018, were accused of having a misleading name & even called dangerous by The Greens.


The Victorian Socialists are, as you might expect, a socialist party that has called for a "radical reorganisation of society,” they first element of which is the "redistribution of wealth and power.”


They also claim that The Greens are "completely uninterested in the electorates where Victoria’s multicultural working class is concentrated."

 

New parties


There are a lot of parties running in the state election that didn't last time, some a bit more well-known than others & others that are completely brand-new.


The Angry Victorians Party is the state branch of the Australian Values Party, which is focused on veterans’ rights. The party’s state leader is Chris Burson, a former Army Veteran of 9 years and Police officer of 11 years. He left the force to contest the election.


The Australian Democrats are a centrist party that lost its national representation in the 2000s, and hasn't been able to win seats since. They're calling for integrity & transparency to be brought back to politics.


The Companions and Pets Party "supports your right to own companion animals and pets, and to engage in lawful pursuits with your animals." According to their website, that extends from cats and dogs to racing greyhounds and show dogs.


Family First has been called a "revival" of the original Family First, and has traditionally has success in South Australia.


Family Matters Australia is currently unknown when it comes to information.


The Freedom Party of Victoria has been set up by Morgan C Jonas (an anti-lockdown activist who was meant to run for the UAP at the 2022 federal election but ended up running as an independent senate candidate) and Aidan McLindon (a former Queensland MP who's been in 8 parties).


FUSION: Science, Pirate, Secular, Climate Emergency, also known more simply as the Fusion Party, was formed earlier this year as a result of a merger between multiple parties. They received 0.36% of the vote in the senate when running in Victoria at the May federal election.


The Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia is a party "run by Indigenous people to tackle Indigenous issues." Their membership is free and open to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. They ran in the federal election.


Legalise Cannabis Victoria is a pro-cannabis party that came close to winning senate seats at the federal election. They won 2 seats at the 2021 WA election, helped by Group Voting Tickets - which is a system currently used in Victoria.


The Legalise Marijuana Party is currently unknown when it comes to information.


The United Australia Party recently won a Victorian senate seat, and is now aiming to win Victorian seats on a state level.


(See above for information on the Independence Party & New Democrats, both of which are also brand-new)

 

Parties that were planning to run


Several parties have pulled out of the race.


The Victorians Party - a self-described centrist party formed by business owners affected by COVID-19 lockdowns - was set to run until August 12, when they pulled out citing donation laws introduced after the 2018 state election.



The Legalise Marijuana Party pulled out in late September following objections from the Legalise Cannabis Party, with almost nothing known about the,/


The Stop Selling Australia Party floated the idea on their Facebook page, but ended up not running.

 

Parties not running again


A number of parties that contested the 2018 election aren’t contesting this year, mainly because they no longer exist.


Voluntary Euthanasia, which had 1.19% of the vote, merged into Reason; the Aussie Battler Party with 0.93% of the vote said on Facebook they planned to expand shortly after the 2018 election but soon dried up, the Australian Liberty Alliance with 0.56% of the vote soon became Yellow Vest Australia before drying up, Hudson for Northern Victoria - which somewhat strangely didn’t run solely in Northern Victoria - had 0.18 of the vote before disbanding, and Vote 1 Local Jobs had just 0.15% of the vote, losing their sole MLC before also disbanding.

 

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