Australia’s establishment parties are running scared. The Albanese Labor government is particularly scared. Tumbling in the polls, increasingly weakened and choked (inexplicably) by the bruising tactics of Coalition opposition leader Peter Dutton, the sinking vessel that is this government is scrambling for existential remedies. One is to try, as much as possible, to limit the reach of independents and minor parties, those frightfully irritating creatures who have served to change the Australian electoral landscape by encouraging cooperation in Canberra.

While electoral reform in terms of disclosing financial support is to be encouraged for reasons of accountability and transparency, something baked by the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in June 2023, the steel in these proposed changes is clearly on snuffing minor parties and independents. It stands to reason: the share of the vote for the major parties is precipitously falling. Minor parties, including independents, are doing better than ever.

Between 1980 and 2024, the primary vote for minor parties and independents, as the Australia Institute notes, markedly increased at the federal, state and territory level. Even the ACT, which tended to be a bit of a holdout to such trends, registered a 33% vote for minor parties and independents in the 2024 election, the highest in........

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