Victoria's legislative council has voted to abolish group voting tickets (GVTs), a move that will significantly impact microparty MPs such as Georgie Purcell, who now face an uphill battle to retain their seats in the upcoming November state election. The electoral amendment (miscellaneous matters) bill 2026 passed the upper house on Tuesday night with 33 votes to four, making Victoria the last Australian state to eliminate the controversial system.
What the Abolition Means for Voters
Under the new rules, voters will be required to number at least five parties above the line on the ballot paper, in order of preference. This replaces the previous GVT system, where voters could choose only one party above the line, and their preferences were then allocated by the party if it was knocked out during counting. The change is designed to give voters more control over their preferences and reduce the influence of backroom deals between parties.
The GVT system has long been criticised by experts, including election analyst Antony Green, who said it allowed candidates to be elected with a small number of primary votes. "This reform is about converting the electoral system into one that rewards parties that get votes over parties who, in the past, have been elected by clever preference deals," Green told Guardian Australia on Wednesday. "In the last decade we’ve had about 20 candidates elected with under 6% of the vote – some as low as 1% – who’ve defeated candidates with many more votes because of these preference deals. That is impossible under a system where voters control their own preferences."
MPs Who Opposed the Bill
The four MPs who opposed the bill were Purcell, who leads the Animal Justice party; the Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne; the Libertarian MP David Limbrick; and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Jeff Bourman. These MPs represent parties that have historically benefited from GVTs, and electoral analyst Ben Raue, founder of the Tally Room, said they are "going to have a lot of trouble getting someone elected with this new system." Raue added, "That’s unfortunate for them. But ultimately this about whether GVTs are a fair way to run a democracy and I don’t think it is. Voters should have control of their preferences."
Purcell acknowledged the difficulty, saying the changes "significantly decrease" her chances of being re-elected but that "it’s not over until it’s over." She added, "My team and I are dedicated to running a strong campaign and doing everything we can to secure another four years in parliament." Payne and Limbrick have also committed to running again, with Limbrick, who was a prominent critic of the government’s Covid-19 measures, describing his party as "underdogs." He said, "No one had heard of us when I was elected in 2018, I was written off in 2022 and quadrupled my vote, and they are writing us off again in 2026."
Calls for Broader Reform
The trio said they supported abolishing GVTs but only if the government also scrapped the state’s eight upper-house regions and replaced them with a single statewide electorate of 40 seats. Such a change would lower the electoral quota from 16.7% to 2.4% if members were elected every four years or about 4.8% for eight-year terms. However, this would require a referendum. A parliamentary inquiry examining GVTs last year recommended they be abolished in time for the 2026 election and proposed holding a referendum on broader structural reform in 2028 or 2030.
Limbrick criticised the government's timing, saying, "Instead they deliberately waited until the last minute to introduce a flawed system to try and silence diverse voices in parliament." Payne echoed this sentiment, stating that abolishing GVTs without broader reform "benefits the major parties rather than strengthening our democracy. This reform is self-serving and motivated by all the wrong reasons."
Potential Impact on Election Outcomes
Based on statewide polling, Green expects the Coalition could win two seats in each region under the new system. Labor could win two seats in some regions and be reduced to one in others. He said the Greens could win up to six seats – one in every metropolitan region and possibly one in the regions – while One Nation could win eight or nine seats. Green stressed that would happen "with or without group voting tickets," given the party is polling at about 20% of the primary vote. He also noted, "Whatever happens, if the Liberal party form government after the election, even with a majority, they will not have a majority in the upper house. They will have to rely on One Nation in the upper house."
