Left-wing parties could hold power in Victoria’s upper house

A bloc of left-wing MPs could hold the balance of power in Victoria’s upper house if the Greens and Legalise Cannabis make projected gains, while early counting indicates that micro parties tied to the so-called “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery went backwards in Saturday’s election.

The Greens could finish with up to four upper house seats if counting continues in their favour, up from a single seat in the upper house.

Greens leader Samantha Ratnam, with colleagues on Sunday, says her party is now a force to be reckoned with.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Legalise Cannabis was “cautiously optimistic” about picking up two seats in the Legislative Council, but the Victorian Socialists were an outside chance of snagging one of those. Reason Party leader Fiona Patten was well-placed and could retain her position, while the Animal Justice Party was also likely to hold one seat, but with Georgie Purcell instead of Andy Meddick.

There are 40 seats in the upper house Legislative Council, but the government won’t achieve a majority. Both Labor and the Coalition could end up with 14 or 15 seats each.

Despite the early signs, candidates were cautious about celebrating or lamenting too early, with only between 20 and 30 per cent of votes counted for the upper house regions. A final result will take weeks to calculate, but an expanded crossbench of left-wing minor parties appeared a possibility based on early counting.

The minor parties that aligned with Druery — such as Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, the Liberal Democrats, Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Transport Matters and Sustainable Australia — looked unlikely to capitalise on Saturday’s vote.

Liberal Democrat David Limbrick and former Liberal MP Bernie Finn, who stood for the DLP, were both still competitive in Sunday’s count. Jeff Bourman was in a strong position to retain his seat for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, but said it was far too early to know for sure.

Purcell, from the Animal Justice Party, benefited from Druery’s bloc of preferences but was directing votes away from the bloc in a co-ordinated sting by the party’s election campaign manager.

Druery said counting for the upper house was at an early stage and expected to have more candidates elected, but said the major parties had been more wary of him at this election.

“It’s not over by a long shot yet,” Druery said. “The numbers are still moving around a lot, and we may not see a final result for two weeks.”

Druery said he was glad to have kept out the “nincompoops” from the Freedom Party, which created its own bloc of right-wing parties, and said he would keep trying to get everyday people elected to parliament to boost diversity.

Psephologist Kevin Bonham cautioned it was still very early in the count and said only broad observations could be made about the possible makeup of the upper house in Victoria’s 60th parliament.

“One [observation] is that at this stage, the micro parties that are well-placed are mostly the left [leaning] ones,” Bonham said.

Bonham still expected candidates with minuscule support, but said: “I think this is looking like there won’t be as many outrageous results as last time.”

One Nation candidate Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell was in a strong position in her bid for a seat in the Northern Victoria region.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten is expected to retain her upper house seat.Credit: Justin McManus

Renee Heath, a lifelong senior member of an ultra-conservative church, is expected to win a spot in parliament for the Liberal Party. But Matthew Guy, who on Sunday announced he would step down as party leader, earlier this month said Heath would not sit in parliamentary party room if elected after her family claimed she was an “agent” of the church, which was revealed in an investigation by The Age.

Victoria is the only jurisdiction in Australia that still uses the group voting system, which allows micro parties with less than 1 per cent of the vote to leapfrog more popular candidates by pooling preferences among one another in secret backroom deals.

The system, which affects votes cast above the line on the ballot paper for the upper house, in 2018 elected candidates with as little as 0.6 per cent of the vote.

Glenn Druery, the so-called ‘preference whisperer’.Credit: Andrew Meares

Hinch’s Justice Party could lose all of its three upper house positions, but Stuart Grimley on Sunday still had a chance of retaining his seat.

“My political career is over. I know I’ve lost, to be honest,” Hinch told The Age. “I know I’m gone, that’s the end of my political career, but that’s life, as someone once said. The tribe has spoken.”

Hinch said it appeared Druery’s influence in Victorian politics could also be over.

Catherine Cumming from the Angry Victorians party, who sat in parliament as an independent last term and was this month criticised for publicly stating Premier Daniel Andrews should be turned into a “red mist”, was also unlikely to retain a seat.

Derryn Hinch concedes his political career is over.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Cumming’s micro party met with Druery and leaked damaging footage against him. Druery denies he formally worked with Angry Victorians and said he was betrayed.

Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam on Sunday said her party was in a “powerful position” to achieve reform and celebrated the chance of a progressive upper house.

“The count is early ... It’s looking like there are a few progressive parties, along with the Greens, who have a stronger chance of making up that crossbench. That is really welcome news,” Ratnam said.

Craig Ellis, the secretary of Legalise Cannabis, said it was also looking promising for the micro party.

“I’ve done this thing a few times, so I know you’ve got to wait.”

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