Rachel calls on the Victorian government to end their policy of not supporting private members bills. These bills give non-government members and backbenchers the opportunity to put forward proposals to change the law to be considered by the government. In the last 40 years only two private bills have passed the Victorian Parliament. The last time we passed a private members bill was all the way back in 2001.
Thursday the 13th of November, 2025
Victorian Legislative Council
Rachel PAYNE (South-Eastern Metropolitan):
Motion: I move – that this house notes that;
(1) the Allan Labor government has a policy of never supporting private members bills;
(2) this policy undermines democratic parliamentary processes and prevents non-government members from fulfilling their essential duties;
(3) where they support the principle of private members bill, the government will often introduce an identical bill in their own name months later, wasting Parliament’s time and resources;
(4) some of the most important pieces of legislation in Australia were the result of private members bills, including marriage equality and compulsory voting;
(5) no other jurisdiction in Australia shares this policy, by comparison, in New South Wales there have been 35 private members bills passed between 2001 and 2022; and calls on the Victorian government to end their policy of not supporting private members bills.
The history of private members bills in Vic
Private members bills give non-government members and backbenchers the opportunity to put forward proposals to change the law to be considered by the government. In an ideal world, where these bills would improve the lives of Victorians, the government would offer their support for them to be passed.
But in the last 40 years only two bills have passed the Victorian Parliament. The last time we passed one was all the way back in 2001.
You will of course be asking yourself – what the Bracks Labor government considered so important that it was willing to break with tradition and pass a private members bill? If you guessed a bill to provide for the pooled investment of trust funds for the benefit of Scotch College! To minimise administrative costs and increase investment income! You would be correct.
This bill was introduced by the shadow health minister and former teacher at Scotch College Mr Robert Doyle. It passed the Assembly after being ruled a private bill. But treated as a public bill, and the fee deposit was paid.
My colleague Mr Davis and I were having discussions about private members bills compared to private bills yesterday. And in this instance, because this bill was treated as a public bill, we will discuss it more in the context of private members bills.
Costs and liabilities when promoting a private members bill
Interestingly, in Victoria’s Legislative Assembly the promoter of a private bill has to pay the Department of the Legislative Assembly a deposit, which at the moment is $1000, before the second reading. I did not know that fact either. Unlike the Legislative Council, the Legislative Assembly standing orders also require the promoter of a private bill to reimburse all expenses for preparing the bill, including drafting, printing, circulation and the costs of any select committee appointed to consider it.
Despite it being over 20 years since Mr Doyle’s successful bill, no other private members bill has passed in Victoria since. The Allan Labor government have explicitly stated that they have a policy of never supporting private members bills. As outlined in this motion, their policy comes with significant consequences.
Set up to fail
Not supporting these bills undermines democratic parliamentary processes and prevents non-government members from fulfilling their essential duties. It also wastes Parliament’s time and resources, not just in the time and effort given to crafting bills that are inevitably set up to fail but also in the government’s tendency to introduce an identical bill in their own name months later if there is support for that bill.
Safe access bill 2015
In August 2015 former member of this place Fiona Patten introduced the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Safe Access) Bill 2015, and then in October 2015 the Labor government introduced a bill with the exact same name, which was later passed into law.
These bills were designed to create safe access of 150 metres around reproductive health clinics in order to protect the rights of people accessing a legal medical service to do so without fear of intimidation and harassment. The substance of these two bills was largely identical, but thanks to the government’s failure to even consider passing or amending Fiona Patten’s bill, the commencement date of these changes was delayed by several months. While laws were eventually passed to protect access to reproductive health services in Victoria, they did not need to be delayed simply because this government refused to support a private members bill.
What do our neighbours do?
New South Wales later passed very similar laws, and they used a private members bill to do so, allowing these changes to commence as soon as possible. Maybe Victoria should be more like New South Wales. There are real consequences to the Allan Labor government’s blanket ban on not supporting private members bills in all cases, but especially where bills are intended to address serious risks of people being harmed, like safe access zones for abortion services. It is shameful that the Victorian government’s pride would stand in the way of passing these laws as soon as possible.
Legalise Cannabis party
In the time since we have been elected, Legalise Cannabis Victoria has introduced private members bills to allow medicinal cannabis patients to drive if not impaired, establish standalone industrial hemp legislation, expand vicarious liability laws to give victim-survivors of institutional child abuse better access to justice, decriminalise begging and of course regulate the adult personal use of cannabis. For many of these we had support from the government for the principle but never for passing of the bill. There is so much we miss out on because of this government’s stance.’
Marriage Amendment Bill 2017
Upon reflection, some of the most important pieces of legislation in Australia were the result of private members bills. The Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017, the legislation that finally made marriage equality a reality for Australians, was a private members bill.
If you want to look back even further, compulsory voting was the result of a private members bill. Introduced in 1924 by Senator Herbert Payne – one of mine – it responded to low election turnouts, which were threatening the ability of democracy to represent the interests of all Australians. This included a turnout rate of just under 46 per cent in Senator Payne’s home town of Tasmania.
Once passed, the legislation had a profound effect, and by the next election in 1925 turnout was over 91 per cent. Our compulsory voting system is something Australians absolutely treasure. It has helped to protect our democracy and ensure that no voter is disenfranchised, and without it I doubt I would be standing before you today as an elected member of Legalise Cannabis Party.
History-making legislation
The point of this brief walk through history highlights that private members bills show you that when a government is a victim of cowardice, these bills can be the mechanism for history-making legislation. They provide an arm’s length approach to lawmaking when the government does not have to stamp its name on that legislation. But here in Victoria we do not have that same opportunity. For whatever reason, this government has chosen to have a strict policy of never supporting private members bills and without exception. This policy is unique to Victoria. Nowhere else in this country will you find such a stubborn government that is so willing to waste Parliament’s resources and make sure that it gets to stamp its own name on every bill that passes through this place.
NSW has passed 35 private members bills
By comparison, in New South Wales there have been 35 private members bills passed between 2001 and 2022. Another walk through some historical highlights in New South Wales will show you that these bills included decriminalising abortion, addressing modern slavery and the earlier mentioned bill to provide safe access zones around reproductive health clinics. Earlier this month there was even talk of extending sitting days in the New South Wales Parliament to allow additional time to pass private members bills in an effort to woo the crossbenchers. Unfortunately, while our Legalise Cannabis colleague Jeremy Buckingham is getting wooed in New South Wales, we get the cold shoulder. The private members bills they are considering in New South Wales are diverse, reflecting the diversity of Parliament and a willingness to engage in good working relationships across the political spectrum.
Calling on the Labor government to support private members bills
Across all jurisdictions, political parties, majority and minority governments we are consistently seeing a willingness to consider passing private members bills, except here in Victoria. We have run the numbers and, on average, just over 10 per cent of private members bills outside of Victoria are supported in all other Australian states and territories. By doing so, these governments get a more representative and vibrant democracy that deals with issues that have otherwise been put in the all-too-hard basket.
Between Legalise Cannabis Victoria, the opposition, the Animal Justice Party, the Greens, One Nation, the Libertarian Party and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers – imagine the vibrant and wide-ranging legislation that could pass given the chance. That is why my colleagues and I are calling on the Allan Labor government to end their policy of not supporting private members bills.
