‘I'm a big believer in democracy': Electoral reform on cards for City of Melbourne
The formal request, made by Reece in a letter to minister Nick Staikos this week, was triggered by a recent council resolution following a Victorian Electoral Commission report on the 2024 council elections which revealed Melbourne's voter participation of 70.79 per cent significantly lagged the state average of 83.79 per cent.
It comes after a campaign by The Age during Victoria's local council elections in October last year which highlighted major inadequacies in the City of Melbourne Act 2001, which dictates election rules including that campaign donations don't need to be made public until 40 days after the election.
The Act hasn't been reformed since 2001 under the Bracks Labor government.
Reece, on behalf of the council, has requested a full review of the Act. The request explicitly asks for the review to consider banning donations from property developers and gambling interests as well as introducing so-called continuous donation reporting. It also seeks a review of the 'appropriateness' of the current voter entitlements.
'I'm a very big believer in democracy. Democracy is a verb. It's something that you do, and it's something you need to keep working on,' he said.
Reece said the review should examine whether foreign property owners should still be given a vote, giving an example of a person living in 'Shanghai, who has an apartment in Melbourne, but very rarely visits' and who may have a 'low connection to the city'. In contrast, he said it was also worth reviewing how to better inform international students they are able to vote.
Melbourne is the only capital city in Australia where eligible businesses get two votes in council elections, while residents only get one. The NSW government in 2023 repealed a similar rule for the City of Sydney elections, with the-then NSW Labor local government minister describing the system as 'something of which North Korea would be proud'.
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