The Victorian Electoral Commission is currently checking the membership of the Nationals Party Victoria Branch.
As part of the checking process the VEC wrote to the people named as members of the Victorian Nationals Party asking that they confirm their membership. This was to help determine if the party had enough members to remain eligible for registration as a political party. The letter explains that a registered party needs to have 500 members who are enrolled Victorian electors to retain its registered party status.
Documents supplied to this newspaper show that the membership list supplied to the electoral commission by the Victorian Nationals Party contained a non-member whom they claimed as member. The claimed member had previously resigned from the party and did not re-join the party at a later date.
This newspaper contacted the Nationals Office for comment on possible branch membership breaches. The Nationals Office said, “The Nationals are the most democratic party in Australia.” When asked about branch stacking, their response was “Our rigorous process for accepting members and party rules ensure all our members are genuine and committed to our party ideals.“
Perhaps the rigorous process for accepting party members does not extend to removing resigned members from the membership list.
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