Voting in the Victorian Legislative Council — or upper house — is a confusing mess of names and boxes and parties you may not have heard of.
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Many parties run candidates only in the upper house and you may not have heard of either the parties or the people running for them, and what they stand for.
Across Victoria, voters will be given one smaller ballot paper for the lower house and one larger one for the Legislative Council.
For the larger one, you can chose to vote above the line by placing a 1 in the box next to the group or party of your choice and leave the rest of the paper blank.
Voting below involves placing numbers next to individual candidates. When voting below the line you must number at least five candidates, in order of preference, with number one as your most preferred candidate.
Do not write any numbers above the line.
You may only place numbers in boxes, not ticks or crosses.
But who will we be voting for in the Legislative Council? In Northern Victoria, the following parties will appear on your ballot, in this order.
We’ve done some digging and have a brief overview of who they are and what they stand for, taken from their websites, for you to make up your own mind as you head into the polls.
Health Australia Party — Kim Warner (Altona), Shaun Moran (Doreen)
The top policies of the Health Australia Party include repealing COVID-19 legislation put in place over the past few years, opening an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, and removing any remaining mandates, including No Jab, No Play.
They also want to “change the pharmaceutically-dominated health system” in Victoria, make Melbourne the most liveable city in the world again and ensure “democracy is restored”.
Fiona Patten’s Reason Party — Melanie Sharp (Warburton), Callum Chapman (Pascoe Vale)
Fiona Patten’s Reason Party is a party which aims to achieve gender equality and remove religious privilege.
The party also wants to treat drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal offence and tackle climate change in more substantial ways.
An extension of racial and religious vilification laws to vilification based on sexuality, gender and disability and pursuing gender parity in pay and board representation is also on the party’s agenda.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers — Josh Knight (Baranduda), Peter Watkins (Charleroi)
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers have achieved success at a state level in NSW in part due to disenfranchisement with The Nationals in that area, but haven’t made headway in Victoria.
The SFF wants to prioritise fixing roads dealing with heavy vehicles, limit the scope of local councils and ensure public land stays public.
The party also wants to support the introduction of “non-lethal items for self defence“ and oppose pandemic measures like mandates, as well as oppose raising the age of criminal responsibility.
The party also wants to fight restrictions on firearm owners and attract more junior shooters to the sport of shooting through school programs.
Companions and Pets Party — Laura Barnes (Derrinal), Robert Britton (Lara)
The Companions and Pets Party’s core tenets are supporting people’s rights to own an animal, and promote and strengthen rights of animal owners, as well as animal welfare laws.
The CAP also has non-animal policies, including establishing 24-hour “super clinics” to help alleviate pressure on emergency departments and the establishment of tribunals to help deal with the backlog of cases by sentencing guilty pleas.
Victorian Socialists — Karen Hocking (Shepparton), Emma Dynes (Greensborough)
The Victorian Socialists, shockingly, want to level the playing field to make workers richer and billionaires poorer.
They want to tax the rich and put politicians on workers’ wages, address injustices against First Nations people, put a five-year rent freeze in place and make a zero carbon economy by 2035.
Legalise Cannabis Victoria — Adam Miller (Caufield North), Christopher McInally (North Bendigo)
The Legalise Cannabis Party, would you believe, wants to legalise cannabis and treat it the same as alcohol and tobacco.
The party’s policy — as per its website — is to “treat cannabis like grapes“. It wants people to be allowed to grow as many as they want, to enjoy with friends and family without a license, but ensure people can’t sell cannabis without a license.
It would also put a moratorium on cannabis offenders and expunge personal use cannabis criminal records.
United Australia Party — Geoff Shaw (St Kilda), Elijah Suares (Ironbark)
The Clive Palmer-founded United Australia Party is running former Liberal Party member for Frankston Geoff Shaw, who lives in St Kilda, as its lead candidate in Northern Victoria.
The party doesn’t have any policies specific to the 2022 Victorian election on its website, only listing national policies from the May election.
That campaign was largely focused on freedom — freedom of speech and religion and freedom from vaccine mandates — while also wanting to make it easier to own a home and repay national debt.
Australian Labor Party, Victorian branch — Jaclyn Symes (Broadford), James McWhinney (Bendigo), Gareth Mills (Strathfieldsaye), Rahn Krammer (Wallan), Mitch Bridges (Wodonga)
Victorian Labor has current Emergency Services Minister Jacyln Symes leading its ticket in Northern Victoria and the party has rolled dozens of policies out to try and seek a fourth term.
Premier Daniel Andrews’ website, not the Labor website, lists the party’s policies, with building hospitals, schools, roads and making kindergarten and TAFE free priorities, while big infrastructure projects in Melbourne like Suburban Rail Loop and Metro Tunnel are also on the cards.
Liberal/The Nationals — Wendy Lovell (Shepparton), Gaelle Broad (Sedgwick), Amanda Miller (Mount Macedon), Liz Fisher (Browns Plains), Jillian Merkel (Benalla)
The Coalition, led by current Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell in Shepparton, is aiming to return to government for the first time since 2014.
Locally, that includes $260 million for the Shepparton bypass, $20 million for the Shepparton stadium and more across the region, and statewide includes trying to free up more land and make public transport cheaper among a plethora of other options.
Liberal Democrats — Tim Quilty (West Wodonga), Tim Molesworth (Liberal Democrats)
Billing themselves as Australia’s “only Libertarian party”, the Liberal Democrats want to slash regulation and public spending.
They want to “end the nanny state” by removing penalties for cannabis possession, vaping and increasing speed limits, while they also want to scrap renewable energy targets and repeal bans or restrictions on gas extraction and nuclear energy.
They also want to transfer 25 per cent of public sector workers to regional Victoria by 2026 and a “fair” allocation of spending in regional areas.
Angry Victorians Party — Mark Jones (West Wodonga), Melanie Tomlin (Benalla)
The Angry Victorians Party wants to make politicans more liable for their actions and restrict emergency powers, as well as decriminalise cannabis and make alternative and natural health treatments more available.
The party also wants to put legislation in place to make it harder to activate emergency powers and protect against lockdowns.
Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party — Tania Maxwell (Wangandarry), John Herron (Riddells Creek)
Current Member for Northern Victoria Tania Maxwell represents Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party in the upper house and the party is, as the name suggests, focused on legal reform.
The party wants parole to be tougher to reach and less bail handed out, and a public register of convicted sex offenders.
The party also wants a royal commission into veterans’ affairs.
Sack Daniel Andrews Restore Democracy — Yasemin Ceylan (Hallam), Mukadder Orhan (Patterson Lakes)
Members of the Sack Daniel Andrews Restore Democracy Party, would you believe, aren’t fans of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
The party’s website has plenty of knocks against the Premier, citing debt, mandates, lockdowns, promises for the healthcare systems which weren’t delivered and ambulance wait times.
It doesn’t actually have any policies, at least according to its website, beyond, well, we can only assume sacking Daniel Andrews.
Australian Greens — Cate Sinclair (Glenuce), Lenka Thompson (Kyneton), Ralf Thesing (Ashbourne), Rosemary Storey (St Andrews), Robin David Chapman (Redesale)
The Victorian Greens want more drastic action on climate change, net zero emissions as soon as possible and the phasing out of fossil fuels.
They want to raise taxes on gas and coal mining and revive Victorian manufacturing with renewables to build heat pumps, solar panels and wind turbines.
The party also wants to build 200,000 affordable and public housing homes over the next 20 years, as well as capping rent increases and investing $1.3 billion in health.
Sustainable Australia Party — Stop Overdevelopment/Corruption — Ian Chivers (Portland West), Allan Doensen (Williamstown)
SAP aims to protect the environment, stop over-development and stop corruption, with the party describing itself as an independent community movement with a “science and evidence-based” policy platform.
It wants to fund a biodiversity and native species program, increase transparency of reporting on political lobbying and offer free university and TAFE education.
New Democrats — Erin Sharma (West Wodonga), Brijesh Chopra (Craigieburn), Kuldeep Jitendrakumar Der (Craigieburn), Ravinder Singh Rana (Wollert)
The New Democrats were formed by current upper house member and former Victorian Labor Party member Kaushaliya Vaghela, who resigned in support of Adem Somyurek and following claims of bullying.
The party does not have a website, and Ms Vaghela’s own website or Twitter account do not have any policies listed.
Transport Matters — Scott Cowie (Wodonga), Neil Cullen (Wodonga)
The Transport Matters party has made transport its nearly sole focus during this election, with building more rail across the state — including the suburban rail loop and other Melbourne projects — its priority.
The party also wants to improve conditions for cyclists and put serious reform in place for the commercial passenger vehicle industry — taxis and ride-sharing companies.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation — Rickie-Lee Tyrrell (Invergordon), Nadine Edwards-Scott (Drouin West)
Invergordon’s Rickie-Lee Tyrell, who ran in the lower house race in May for One Nation, is back aiming for a seat in the Victorian upper house this month.
Governance is the party’s key issue this election, with transparency and accountability at the top of the agenda alongside implementing recommendations from the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission and a Royal Commission into the pandemic.
The party also wants to pressure councils to remove excessive red tape which is preventing residential land from being released in a timely fashion.
Animal Justice Party — Georgie Purcell (Kyneton), Michelle McGoldrick (Spring Gully)
The Animal Justice Party’s policies are all around animal welfare, but the party has developed positions on which it will judge all other issues — with those core values kindness, equality, rationality and non-violence.
The party wants to introduce universal health care for animals called Veticare to public veterinary clinics across the state, as well as ending duck shooting and greyhound and jumps racing.
Labour DLP — Mark Royal (Sunbury), Ross McPhee (Patterson Lakes)
Labour DLP, not to be confused with the Labor Party, wants to reject the climate crisis, help families find homes to both buy and rent and end all renewable energy subsidies.
The party also wants to increase the number of doctors and nurses employed by the department of health by 25 per cent, as well as slash petrol and diesel registration fees by 50 per cent.
The pary also wants to end acknowledgement of country readings and “outlaw the teaching of race and gender in schools”.
Freedom Party of Victoria — Christopher James Alan Neil (Gisbourne), Henk N. Wallenborn (Merbein)
The Freedom Party wants to create a new alternative medicine health portfolio, remove vaccine mandates, decriminalise drug possession and classify gender transition therapy and surgery as child abuse.
The party also wants to open up more gas mining and drive investment in the clean energy sector and focus on regional economic growth by evaluating if regional businesses can pay less tax.
Family First Victoria — MIchael White (Beechworth), Carol Norton-Smith (Beechworth)
Family First claims to be the only party which can protect voters from political correctness, “anti-family” agendas and promises to be a “bold and uncompromising voice for family and faith”.
The party wants to remove the use of puberty blockers and gender affirmation surgery, while also removing material about gender fluidity from schools and ban late-term abortions, as well as advocate for abortion to “become unthinkable”.
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