Guidance Restated

This post acts as a supplement to another one that describes Australian political institutions and electoral processes. This time my civic guidance focuses on the state of Victoria specifically because we also have an election in 2022. The original post gave the basics of Australian democracy while this one looks at those things that are distinct in Victoria.

Victoria

Victoria has a very similar set of political institutions and practices to that of the Australian Commonwealth. They draw on a common heritage (indeed the Victorian parliament is older). However they have overlapping characteristics and have developed differently over time. Much terminology is distinct. Victoria has a Governor (rather than a Governor General) and a Premier (rather than a Prime Minister). State governments have distinct areas of responsibility (including portfolios for hospitals, schools and public transport).

Parliament

The Victorian Parliament is located at Spring Street in the capital City of Melbourne (the media sometimes will refer to the government as simply Spring Street). There are two chambers of debate - the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.

The Legislative Assembly is similar in function to the House Of Representatives in Canberra but is smaller. There are 88 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) each elected from a separate electoral district (each electorate having a similar number of voters residing in it). The party or grouping with a majority in this chamber forms government.

The Legislative Council is similar in function to the Senate in Canberra and acts as a house-of-review. There are 40 Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs). They are drawn from 8 electoral regions which elect 5 members each. Five regions cover all of metropolitan Melbourne. The other three regions cover rural Victoria including its provincial towns.

The state of Victoria has a written constitution that can be altered by parliamentary legislation (except for a few sections of it that can only be altered by referendum).

State Elections

The Victorian Parliament has fixed four year terms and the state election is held in November every four years. All members of both chambers face re-election each time. Elections are conducted by the politicially non-aligned Victorian Electoral Commission. MLAs are elected by preferential voting. MLCs are elected by a combination of preferential voting and proportional representation.

Ballot papers for the Legislative Council give voters the option of voting below or above the line. Voting below the line is the standard method of giving every candidate a preference. Voting above the line however allows a voter to place only a 1 in the box of one party political group. By giving a party this vote the citizen is saying that their preferences must be distributed according to a pre-lodged order decided by that party. Most voters choose this option because it is easier and quicker.

Many voters however never know how a party has decided to distribute its preferences. They can check but rarely think to. Parties decide preferences according to ideology but also electoral strategy. Complex arrays of agreements to exchange preferences complicate voting intentions in a process dubbed 'preference whispering' by the media. Voters may accidentally vote for candidates they never wished to elect. This practice was once common across Australia but now only persists in Victoria.

Mindful Voting

It is important for voters to seek information like these party preference agreements. In this and other ways voters can be more mindful of the power they have in determining election outcomes. Take a look at what independent and party candidates say and do in deciding how to vote in Victorian state elections.