DRIVE NOW May 2021

VICTORIA news
‘Laughable’
Greens motion
TO CHANGE THE GROUP VOTING
TICKET, RECEIVES NO SUPPORT IN
UPPER HOUSE
Earlier this month the Leader of the Victorian Greens,
Samantha Ratnam, put forward a motion to change the way
that Victorian Parliament’s Legislative Council (aka Upper
House) is elected.
The motion received
only one vote in
favour, by Dr Ratnam
herself.
The Group Voting Ticket (GVT), as part of the 2006 reforms,
makes it difficult for a single party to have control of the
Upper House and diversifies the political party pool to better
represent Victorians as a whole.
“This means that if your chosen candidate does not get the
numbers, your vote won’t end there. You can choose whom
the vote goes to after that, or you can let the candidate decide
for you,” says Rod Barton, Transport Matters Party Leader.
Mr Barton believes the Greens attempt to get rid of the GVT is
not only hypocritical but also stems from pure self-interest.
Rod Barton MLC
Leader, Transport Matters Party
“You need only look at this motion to see the Greens’
true priorities. Ms Ratnam can bring only two motions to
parliament this year. She has chosen, that rather than uplift
the vulnerable, free refugees or mitigate climate change, that
she would rather waste a whole motion attempting to distort
our democracy.”
“I wear my vote as a badge of honour,” says Rod. “The Group
24 May 2021