MEDIA RELEASE

The Allan government’s proposed new electoral laws hand millions of taxpayer dollars to the major parties, punish minor parties and independents, and risk yet another High Court challenge. Family First’s Jane Foreman says Labor is using the High Court’s ruling as cover to rig the system further.

The High Court in April struck down Victoria’s electoral donation laws because they unlawfully discriminated against minor parties and independents. The Allan government’s proposed replacement legislation now hands registered parties $300,000 for their first elected MP, with further taxpayer-funded payments for every MP after that — a structure that entrenches the major parties’ advantages and shuts out new political voices. Legal experts and crossbenchers have already warned the new laws could face a fresh High Court challenge.

“The High Court said discriminating against minor parties is unlawful. Labor’s answer is to write that discrimination into the new law — and make Victorians pay for it. This isn’t fixing the system. It’s rigging it all over again.”

Discrimination against minor parties and independents was the very principle the High Court found unlawful. Any genuine fix must address this directly.

Instead, Labor’s bill preserves the unfair 4 per cent threshold that blocks smaller parties from receiving first-preference public funding, maintains requirements that force smaller parties to repay legitimately used campaign funds, and creates new administrative payment streams that only parties with sitting MPs can access. Labor and Liberal benefit. Everyone else pays the price.

Family First is calling on the Victorian Parliament to address all areas of unfairness, including:

• Removing the arbitrary 4 per cent threshold before first-preference votes receive public funding.
• Ending requirements that force smaller parties to repay legitimately used campaign funding.
• Abolishing the new administrative funding streams reserved exclusively for parties with sitting MPs — a structure that entrenches the major parties and locks out genuine competition.
• Removing any cap structure or funding formula that gives the Labor and Liberal parties a systemic advantage over minor parties and independents.

“Labor had the chance to clean up Victoria’s electoral laws once and for all. Instead, they’ve written laws that shovel more taxpayer money to themselves and slam the door on anyone who isn’t already in parliament. If this passes unchanged, don’t be surprised when it’s back in the High Court.”

“Victoria deserves electoral laws that are fair to everyone — not laws designed by the major parties to protect themselves. Family First will not stop until the playing field is genuinely level.”