A political party with a deliberately misleading name has been successfully registered for the Victorian election, aiming to redirect left-wing votes towards parties on the right.

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[–] 2 points 3 months ago

A deliberately broken/corrupt system.

This is not the first time this has happened

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_Mass_Immigration_%E2%80%93_Reform_AU

"End Mass Immigration – Reform AU is a political party registered in Victoria. Registered in 2022 as the Companions and Pets Party, chairperson John Hutchison said at the time that the party was opposed to "animal liberationism", and it has been described as against the Animal Justice Party. It is currently unrepresented in the Parliament of Victoria, failing to win any seats in the Legislative Council at the 2022 state election. Its registered name was changed to End Mass Immigration – Reform AU in December 2025."

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  • 7 comments in c/australianpolitics@aussie.zone view that post
    [–] 19 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    Mate it's not even illegal according to the AEC to mimic AEC livery and 'how to vote' forms and placards to trick Chinese immigrants into voting for the LNP.

    Nor is it illegal to hand out "How to vote for Greens / LNP / Labour" cards at polling stations as a member of an opposition party, and deceptively place all preferences for the opposite intentions.

    Nor is it illegal to mimic the AEC and puport to simply be a government representative enabling your application to a postal vote, while actually being from Liberal or Labor party and taking any submitted information as your own, to do whatever you like with.

    So there's zero chance they'll care about a party misrepresenting their political goals.

    Australians have very little freedom of speech enshrined in law, but what little there is aims to protect politicians only.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I think the AEC (and related State bodies) has codes it must enforce under its legislation, anything outside those codes it cannot enforce and would be going beyond it's remit to attempt to. The agency won't have the latitude that the judiciary have, nor should they.

    Although these cases all build on the reality that the AEC's rules may be inadequate for the multitude of bad faith partisans infecting Australian democracy.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    The fake Chinese AEC signage seems like something they could take action on but chose not to. Section 329 of the Electoral Act makes it an offence to publish any material that is "likely to mislead or deceive an elector in relation to the casting of a vote". Ultimately it would be for a court to decide, but they certainly could have at least tried to make the case, if they had wanted to.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    This made me so incensed when I read it. If the Victorian government don't have a response to this diagusting attempt at voter disenfranchisement then it undermines the creeibility of the whole system. There will be no reason to act in good faith, the clear signal to political players and Partys of all colours will be to attempt to deceive agendas and farm votes from those deceptions as much as this case.

    In other words this is a potential precedent that should be decapitated in the strongest possible terms. It is worth the political cost to reject these deceitful and disgusting people's plan.

    Edit: Its cases like this that confirms my belief that the Social Web, spaces like this, need to be supported and grown. People like this are able to grow because governments are scared to demand change from big tech, and big tech have a financial (and sometimes ideological, 'X' at least) interest in platforming bad faith provocateurs.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    I don't really see a problem here?

    Its not going to achieve any significant impact.

    Let this guy further undermine credibility on Israel.

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