Right now, a guillotine is hanging over Sustainable Australia Party in Victoria. Let's turn the guillotine back on the political class.
In recent months we have seen several Victorian minor parties killed off by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) state registration rules. These parties include the Democratic Labour Party, Family First, Health Australia Party, Angry Victorians Party and Restore Democracy Sack Dan Andrews Party. Added to this is the voluntary de-registration of several other minor parties including Reason Party, United Australia Party and Transport Matters Party, some of whom would have found it extremely difficult to successfully navigate a 500-member review by the VEC.
Ok, there will be mixed feelings about the demise of some of these, but that is not the point. Hear me out.
Unfortunately the Victorian Parliament, made up of the very parties who benefit from the current registration system, makes the rules of the game. The fact that the main players make the rules is in itself counter to the principles of democracy. It goes without saying that an independent body such as the VEC should make the registration and re-registration rules, rather than the foxes guarding the henhouse. Hopefully the media will pick up on this travesty, but for now we are left with an unfair playing field for minor parties and independents that is designed to destroy them.
One of the ways they do this is through requiring minor political parties that received an average of less than 4% of first preference votes at the state election to undergo this onerous 500-member review soon after the election. Fair enough you say? Yes, every party should be required to show they have at least 500-members every term of Victorian Parliament. The thing is, minor parties are forced to undergo this membership review twice in a term. Our second commences in August 2024.
It is unfair to force parties that receive an average of less than 4% of first preference votes to undergo two of these tests in a term of parliament, while taxpayer-funded major parties do not. The reviews involve the VEC contacting party members and asking them to confirm their eligibility as a member of the party. It is challenging for mainly volunteer-based minor parties to do one of these tests per term, let alone two. Not only is it a huge administrative burden on minor parties' administrations, it is frustrating for party members. No wonder the minor parties have been falling like flies.
Not only are minor parties who fail the 500-member test de-registered, they are ineligible to re-register again until after the November 2026 Victorian election! That is how vindictive, anti-democratic, and some would say corrupt, the two major parties who make these rules are. There is no way an independent body would implement such devastating rules and penalties.
The recent wave of minor party de-registrations in Victoria was just in relation to the first test, which was held last year. Sustainable Australia Party (SAP) narrowly survived. Now we need to do it all again!
We need help.
If you are not a member of SAP, and are aligned to our values of sustainability and fairness, please consider joining, even just until Christmas 2024.
If you are a member of SAP, we need you to hang in there, back us through this process and spread the word.
To be safe, we need to grow our membership by around 100 in Victoria in August. If you want to see minor parties like SAP survive and challenge our corrupted political system, consider joining to help us over this hurdle. We don't expect everyone to agree with all of our policies. It doesn't work that way. We just need members who are broadly supportive of our values and platform.
We are an independent community movement with a science and evidence-based policy platform. Not left. Not right. We are often asked what the difference is between SAP and other political parties or candidates, including the Greens. The main difference is that we are the only political party to put our environment first - and therefore our health, economy and quality of life.
Eligible members must be enrolled to vote in Victoria and cannot be a member of another political party.
Right now, a guillotine is hanging over the head of Sustainable Australia Party in Victoria. Let's instead guillotine the political class (metaphorically speaking of course).
Yours in sustainability,
P.S. if you are not a member, you can join here:
www.sustainableaustralia.org.au/join
P.P.S. Please feel free to share this statement to Reddit, Facebook, etc via the social media links on the left!
Jack Corcoran
Victorian Organiser
Sustainable Australia Party