SCOREBOARD
+7 New parties registered under new rules
-13 Existing parties deregistered following new rules (excludes deregistrations under old rules)
Final net change following new rules: -6
Parties registered for 2022 election: 38
One party is listed as an applicant for registration that cannot occur before the election as the party register is now frozen.
Three parties are formally listed for potential deregistration that cannot occur before the election for the same reason.
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(This article is continually updated - the original intro text is below)
The Electoral Legislation Amendment (Party Registration Integrity) Bill 2021 has passed the Senate without amendments and will shortly receive Royal Assent. The Bill (i) increases the party membership number requirement for non-parliamentary parties to 1500 members (ii) requires that a person can only be counted as a member of one party (iii) prevents parties from registering names that use words already used by pre-existing parties without consent, with some exceptions.
My view on these changes was expressed in a previous article (The Trolls That Got There First). I think the membership changes are in principle good and will not disadvantage minor parties with any real chance of ever winning seats - on the contrary they should reduce ballot paper clutter and encourage micro-parties to merge into units more likely to be competitive with bigger parties. However I believe this should have been accompanied by reform to the current unfair and confusing treatment of non-party groups, which could become more common and cause increased confusion and unsightly ballot papers following this change. Also, the change disadvantages parties with their support based in the NT, ACT or Tasmania and there should probably be a one-jurisdiction registration option with the old 500 member limit.
