Businesses get double voting power in City of Melbourne elections. Now they want more

Most Melbourne lord mayoral candidates want a decades-old rule that gives eligible businesses two votes at the election to be scrapped, but a key lobby group says they should have their vote beefed up because residents are getting too powerful.

The Age can also reveal that the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has endorsed Arron Wood for lord mayor, ranking him as the preferred candidate for business interests in a scorecard sent to members ahead of the close of postal voting next Friday.

Arron Wood has been endorsed by Victoria’s business lobby as preferred lord mayor for Melbourne.Credit: Eddie Jim

Melbourne is now the only capital city in Australia where eligible businesses get two votes in council elections, while residents only get one. The NSW government last year repealed a similar rule for the City of Sydney elections, labelling it undemocratic.

But VCCI chief executive Paul Guerra said an increase in residents had “diluted” the City of Melbourne business vote.

“[It’s] probably time to revisit whether two votes is enough, whether it goes to three or more,” Guerra said.

“The CBD is so fundamental to the success of Victoria – if the CBD is up and firing then the rest of Victoria is up and firing as well.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra.

“So we need to make sure that the business voice is heard through the election. The best way to do that is to make sure that it’s weighted against the residents.”

The Age’s analysis of the City of Melbourne’s electoral roll details shows that a major change has occurred in the demographic make-up of voters this year: residents now form the majority of the roll.

Since at least 2016, business and landlord voters outnumbered residential voters in the City of Melbourne. But the number of landlords has been dropping, while residential voters have increased.

In 2016, residents comprised 42 per cent of the electoral roll. This year, it’s 53 per cent.

Wood, a business owner who supports the double vote rule, welcomed the VCCI endorsement.

“[The chamber] does great work advocating for the Melbourne business community, and we are proud to have their tick of approval for our suite of policies which will drive Melbourne’s economic recovery,” he said.

But Associate Professor Ryan Goss, who specialises in public law at the Australian National University, said Guerra’s push to give businesses even greater voting rights was “outrageous”.

“Giving businesses the vote at all is un-Australian, undemocratic and has no place in the 21st century,” Goss said.

“Queensland reformed their laws on this more than a century ago. Brisbane City Council is the largest city council in the country and it is a 100 per cent residential vote – just like state parliament, just like federal parliament.”

The idea of reducing business votes to one each has support among the pool of potential lord mayors at this election.

Six of 11 candidates indicated to The Age that change was needed to the system where businesses get a greater say than residents. Unlike the rest of Victoria, out-of-town landlords are also automatically enrolled.

Independent candidates Jamal Hakim and Gary Morgan, the Greens’ Roxane Ingleton, Labor’s Phil Reed and Liberal Mariam Riza all expressed a desire to change the rule. Greg Bisinella of the new Voices For Melbourne group – which emerged from a group of residents – also wants the rule reviewed and called the current system “gerrymandered” away from the interest of the growing residential population.

Incumbent Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s campaign did not directly answer questions about the double business vote, which dates back to changes made under Liberal premier Jeff Kennett in the 1990s. Reece’s campaign said voting reform was a matter for state government.

Eylem Kim of the Animal Justice Party did not respond.

Wood and fellow independent Anthony Koutoufides said the rule should stay in place. Anthony Van Der Craats from “Rip up the Bike Lanes!” was non-committal.

Ben Raue, an election analyst and founder of the Tally Room blog, said Melbourne “stands out in every way” as a council.

“There are no wards, a directly elected mayor and the non-residential vote [businesses and landlords] there is enormous,” he said.

Raue said the influence of business was clear: the state and federal seats of Melbourne vote heavily for the Greens, but the council election favours pro-business leaders.

“It very much has a tilt in a conservative direction – nobody has any doubt about which way it goes,” he said.

NSW Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig, who pushed through the reform for City of Sydney last year, has described allowing businesses more votes than residents as “something of which North Korea would be proud”.

The City of Melbourne has its own act of parliament, separate to other Victorian councils, that dictates election rules. It hasn’t been reformed since 2001 under the Bracks Labor government.

The power to change the City of Melbourne’s voting rules sits with Local Government Minister Melissa Horne. Her spokesperson said there were “no immediate plans for a legislative review, and any changes would need to be made in consultation with council and the community”.

Opposition local government spokesman Peter Walsh said the Coalition was “content” to leave the double voting rule “as it is”, which put the opposition at odds with Riza, the Liberals’ candidate.

“Businesses pay significant rates that provide the services the City of Melbourne delivers and are entitled to retain their say,” Walsh said.

There have been multiple reports and inquiries recommending removing the two-vote rule for corporations, including one in 2014 by former federal MP Petro Georgiou and another in 2015 by Monash University Associate Professor Ken Coghill, which recommended only residents should have a vote, as per state and federal elections.

The latest group of Melbourne councillors, including Reece, also unanimously passed two motions during their term calling on the state government to initiate a review – in 2021 and again in 2022.

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