Whether provocateurs or heads of political think tanks, there are shady individuals trying to impact the result of this month’s state election at the end of November.
Reported by Lev Burke
This election cycle has seen plenty of interesting campaigns from all sides of politics. But some have certainly stood out more than others. I’m referring to fake political parties with deliberately confusing names trying to steal your vote.
Let’s start with the ‘Free Palestine Party’. Back in August, news broke that a Palestinian activist was attempting to register this name with the Victorian Electoral Commission. Much to their surprise the name had already been taken, but not by someone sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Rather, it had been registered by Avi Yemini, a far-right Israeli-Australian who has previously served in the Israeli Defence Force.
He has previously pleaded guilty to an unlawful assault charge following an argument with his then wife. Most recently, he has been seen at One Nation press conferences where he’s been criticised heavily for disrupting questions in order to ask favourable ones of Pauline Hanson and her team.
In an interview with the ABC’s Raf Epstein, Yemini said that he will use the ‘Free Palestine Party’ to funnel votes to One Nation, and has called left-leaning voters “useful idiots”.
Then there’s the ‘Climate Action Now’ party registered by anti-vaxxer Monica Smit.
In social media videos she has said that she’s creating “minor parties with catchy names so that uneducated voters see a name they like and put a one next to it, and they have no idea that this is actually just harvesting votes for someone else”. She plans to send preferences to One Nation and Family First.
Smit’s brother, Daniel, has since also registered the ‘I’m Voting to Avoid the Fine Party’, which was also created to funnel votes to One Nation and Family First.
An investigation by The Guardian has revealed that websites for parties named ‘Refugees Are Welcome Here’, ‘Muslim Votes Matter’ and ‘Save the Environment’ (which has since been registered by another individual without any connection to Smit), have all been linked to Smit via identical IP addresses that Smit used for her other sites.
By making changes to the Electoral Act (2002) (VIC), the VEC has specifically taken a stand on transparency to try to combat dishonest materials and help voters understand who is behind electoral materials. In a press release, the VEC stated they made the changes to “help ensure Victorians know who is responsible for electoral material”.
In response to questions about the legitimacy of these parties the VEC said: “We cannot assess or verify a political party’s character, policies or why that party seeks election to the Victorian Parliament. Our role is only to determine whether a party meets the requirements for registration under the law.”
“We encourage voters to do their own research about candidates and parties prior to casting their vote.”
Yemini’s ‘Free Palestine Party’, Monica Smit’s ‘Climate Action Now’ and Daniel Smit’s ‘I’m Voting to Avoid the Fine’ are still registered on the VEC website alongside many other new and controversial political parties.
There have been many cloak-and-dagger campaigns meant to influence the outcome of this election. You can read more about these in our online edition.
All information regarding registered parties was checked and correct at the time of publishing. Please keep updated with the VEC website for newly registered parties.
www.vec.vic.gov.au/candidates-and-parties/registered-political-parties/currently-registered parties
