Hansard debates

Luba GRIGOROVITCH (Kororoit) (11:04): I am pleased to rise and speak about the Electoral Matters Committee report on the inquiry into the conduct of the 2022 Victorian state election, which I tabled yesterday. At the outset I want to thank my fellow committee members along with Dr Chris Gribbin, Chiara De Lazzari, Joel Hallinan and Sarah Catherall for all of the work that they did to make this report happen.

For those of you that do not know, the Electoral Matters Committee was first established by the Bracks Labor government in 2005. It was established to examine the conduct of elections in Victoria and other matters to do with electoral law in this state. This inquiry into the 2022 state election was held over 16 ‍months, holding 27 public hearings and undertaking two surveys and a community forum. The committee found that the election was generally conducted fairly and democratically, and the committee was not presented with any evidence that the election result was not correct. The successful work of the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) in 2022 should be recognised, and the many workers who contributed should be commended. However, this inquiry did identify several areas where the electoral system could be improved to better meet the needs of stakeholders and to better align with community expectations.

I am sure you all read this report overnight, but I will point out that there are four major areas where the committee has recommended changes. These four major areas are (1) adjusting the election timetable, including reducing the early voting centre from 12 to seven days, closing the electoral roll earlier and bringing forward the close of nominations; (2) improving the VEC’s training procedures and products to ensure that election officials are familiar with the rules and provide a good experience for voters; (3) reducing inappropriate behaviour by candidates – and I know many of us around this room saw that during the election period – and by campaigners by establishing an enforceable code of conduct, limiting the number of campaigners at a voting centre where necessary and introducing truth in political advertising laws; and (4) eliminating group voting tickets for Victorian upper house voting.

In addition, the committee has identified two important issues which require further investigation: firstly, additional possible reforms to the upper house and their impacts, including the upper house regions and the number of members in the upper house; and the second one, allocating some electoral responsibilities to bodies other than the VEC, such as enforcing electoral law and hosting information for voters about candidates, parties and of course their policies. These matters are all contained in volume 1 of the report. Volume 2 discusses the large quantity of evidence received by the committee through this inquiry and makes additional recommendations designed to ensure that the electoral system is inclusive, trustworthy, transparent and of course fair and that the VEC meets its obligations in delivering the election. Obviously, that is all that we want.

I would especially like to thank all of the members of the public who took the time to make these submissions to the inquiry. We received 114 submissions as well as submissions in person from the public, and that is what democracy looks like. Their contributions were absolutely invaluable to the committee. As the chair of the committee I would like to recognise and warmly thank the many hardworking parliamentary officers who assisted with our inquiry and without whom we simply could not have done the job, including the committee secretariat, the Hansard staff, the community engagement team and the graphic design and publishing team. I especially want to single out our committee’s executive officer the diligent Dr Christopher Gribbin for all of his help; he truly went above and beyond. Lastly, I would like to thank all of my parliamentary colleagues who served on the committee with me, my deputy Wayne Farnham, Brad Battin, David Ettershank, Sam Hibbins, Emma Kealy, Nathan Lambert, Lee Tarlamis and Emma Vulin. I appreciate the collegiate approach each and every one of them brought to this report.

The summary of the key recommendations of the inquiry into the conduct of the 2022 Victorian election can easily be found – recommendations affecting parties, recommendations affecting independents, recommendations affecting candidates from both houses, recommendations affecting the lower house and recommendations affecting the upper house. If anyone has any questions about them and would like some further information, as the chair of the Electoral Matters Committee I am more than happy to speak to each and every one of you, so come and see me. Thank you.