Key points

• Aidan McLindon is a candidate for anti-lockdown Freedom Party.
• He’s hoping to form a bloc of conservative minor parties to swap preferences.

Micro parties campaigning for “freedom” and conservative family values are planning to swap preferences at Victoria’s election in November after the Andrews government retained the group voting system that is widely viewed as flawed.

Aidan McLindon – who is running against Premier Daniel Andrews in Mulgrave for the newly formed anti-lockdown Freedom Party – has pitched himself as a “preference blocker” who will undercut the business of renowned “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery.

Self-styled preference whisperer Glenn Druery says he would broker the preference deals for free if payments were banned.Credit:Andrew Meares

Political parties have until Friday to register for the state election.

McLindon, who has been a member of the Liberal National Party in Queensland, the Katter Australia Party and the Queensland Party, has rallied a handful of minor parties to create a bloc.

Victoria is the only jurisdiction in Australia that still uses group voting. Under the system, voting for the Legislative Council above the line results in preferences being directed according to agreements between parties even if they do not align with the view of the voter.

ABC election analyst Antony Green has long criticised group voting because it can easily distort the will of voters.

Aidan McLindon is running for the anti-lockdown Freedom Party.Credit:Freedom Party

Using the group voting system, Druery manufactures preference swaps between minor parties who pay him in the hope of winning seats. His system has catapulted candidates into parliament despite minuscule support. For example, Transport Matters candidate Rod Barton became an MP in 2018 with just 0.6 per cent of first-preference votes.

McLindon said he was not interested in working with Druery, and decided instead to “become the preference blocker”. Although he is running in the lower house, his new party – led in Victoria by Morgan Jonas, partner of anti-lockdown campaigner Monica Smit – will field upper house candidates.

Family First and the Australian Federation Party confirmed they would work with McLindon, while the Democratic Labour Party, Health Australia Party and Victorians Party said they were negotiating with everyone.

Sydney-based United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly ruled out any deals with Druery in Victoria and said he expected to team up with like-minded parties, though no agreements have been made.

Druery, who also works in a taxpayer-funded parliamentary position for the Liberal Democrats, said he was not worried about McLindon.

“I don’t think the Victorian public has too much to fear about Aidan McLindon or his musketeers,” Druery said.

“God help us if any of these nincompoops get their backsides on the red leather [seats in the Legislative Council].”

The Greens tried to dismantle group voting in Victoria after securing just one upper house seat from almost 10 per cent of votes in 2018.

A Greens spokesman confirmed the party was talking to progressive parties to negotiate a group voting ticket but said the “undemocratic” system ought to be changed.

A spokeswoman for the Andrews government said Labor had no plans to reform the system.

Liz Walsh, the Victorian Socialists candidate for the western metro region, said her party was in discussions with the Greens, Animal Justice Party, Reason and Labor.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten, who was narrowly re-elected without Druery’s help in 2018, said group voting encouraged diversity in the upper house. But she wants the practice of exchanging cash for preferences outlawed.

Druery said if the payments were outlawed, he would swap preferences for parties voluntarily.

Jeff Bourman, from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, said group voting allowed minor parties to get elected.

“We will deal with everyone and anyone, except the Animal Justice Party,” Bourman said.

“We have to deal with everybody. Will we deal with Glenn [Druery]? Yes. Will we deal with the whatever-they-want-to-call-themselves? Yes, absolutely. That’s how you get elected; by dealing with everyone.”

Barton confirmed Transport Matters would work with Druery but said a deal was not yet made.

More than 20 per cent of Victorians didn’t vote for the Coalition, Labor or Greens at the last election. Barton expects that to increase in November, and should be reflected with diversity in the upper house.

Negotiations between the parties are expected to intensify after party registrations close at the end of this week and once final candidates are locked in.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

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