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No justice: Derryn Hinch’s Justice party calls time

By Murray Silby

Mar 16, 2023

**Time out:** Derryn Hinch with former Member for Northern Victoria Tania Maxwell. Photo by Contributed

The party is over for Derryn Hinch, with his political party officially deregistered by the Victorian Electoral Commission.

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Tania Maxwell’s loss of her Northern Victoria Legislative Council seat in the 2022 election helped precipitate the party’s demise, along with her colleague Stuart Grimley in Western Victoria.

Mr Hinch, himself, also failed to win a seat in the November state election.

Electoral Commissioner Warwick Gately has confirmed that Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party applied for voluntary deregistration and the request had been confirmed.

It means Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, or a party with a name that closely resembles it, cannot re-register as a political party until after the 2026 state election.

An unregistered party can still participate at elections, but will not be entitled to have its name and logo next to its candidates’ names on ballot papers.

Named after former senator and controversial broadcaster Derryn Hinch, the party campaigned for tougher sentencing and a public register of sex offenders.

In a Facebook post after the last election, Mr Hinch praised the representation his two members had given.

“We all campaigned hard around the state with dedicated volunteers, but we (and Victoria) lost two dedicated, hard-working, valuable MPs in Stuart Grimley and Tania Maxwell,” he said.

“They served the party and Victoria well. They will be missed by their constituents.”