Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will be forced to negotiate with a diverse and progressive upper house crossbench — who support legalising cannabis — to pass any contentious legislation in this term of parliament.
Election results for Victoria's upper house have been confirmed, with former Labor MP Adem Somyurek returned and two Legalise Cannabis representatives to enter parliament, but former Liberal MP Bernie Finn is out.
The computer-calculated preference flows for the 40-member Legislative Council were finalised by the Victorian Electoral Commission this morning for the eight upper house regions.
The Legislative Council will be made up of 15 Labor MPs, 14 Liberals, four Greens, two Legalise Cannabis MPs and single representatives from the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), One Nation, Liberal Democrats, the Animal Justice Party and the Shooters Fishers and Farmers.
Rikkie-Lee Tyrell is the first One Nation MP in Victoria's parliament, winning a seat in the Northern Victoria region, along with Georgie Purcell from the Animal Justice Party (AJP). Ms Purcell was chief of staff to AJP MP Andy Meddick who lost his seat.
If the Coalition opposes any government legislation, Labor will need to win support of six crossbenchers. Labor has scored a small win with the crossbench having a progressive bent.
Legal changes for cannabis 'priority' for new MPs
Decriminalising cannabis looms as a major test for the government with support for the policy not limited to the freshly-elected party.
The Greens, Liberal Democrats and AJP have all voiced their support for legalisation, while Liberal MP Bev McArthur refused to dismiss the plan.
"I'm always open to new ideas,'' she said.
Legalise Cannabis Party MP Rachel Payne flagged changes to stop drivers being punished for testing positive to cannabis when they were not inhibited.
"The driving laws need to change, they're measuring things around impairment when it is actually presence that is being detected and it should be the other way around,'' she said.
Legalise Cannabis MP David Ettershank said the election of two MPs from his party was an indication of changing views on cannabis legalisation.
"We're looking forward to working with the government on genuine reform and legalisation of cannabis a priority," he said.
"I think it's something to be worked through with the government in a logical and sensible way."
One Nation's Ms Tyrell, a first-time MP, told ABC Radio Melbourne she wanted to bring a conservative voice to the Victorian parliament "that everybody's been desperate for".
She said she was surprised she was Victoria's first One Nation MP, and defended her party.
"We aren't racist, redneck hicks, we are actually genuine, real hardworking Australians that just want to be that voice for the rest of the Aussies out there," Ms Tyrell said.
She said she would approach working with the Andrews government "with an open mind", and said issues like reviewing irrigation rules in the Murray-Darling Basin were among her priorities.
The Greens have increased their seats from one to four in the Legislative Council, which the party claimed represented a historic result.
"This is the best result for the Greens, electing eight MPs for the first time at a general election and for the first time winning an upper house seat in regional Victoria," Greens Leader Samantha Ratnam said.
The Animal Justice Party will again try to end duck shooting, while the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed their commitment to human rights.
Derryn Hinch's Justice Party has lost all three of the seats it won in 2018.
One of those seats was won by controversial MP Catherine Cumming, who subsequently left the party.
Ms Cumming ran for the Angry Victorians party in the 2022 state election, but fell well short of winning an upper house seat in the Western Metropolitan region.
Adem Somyurek retains upper house seat
Mr Somyurek was sacked from Labor's front bench in 2020 over branch stacking allegations and resigned from parliament in October, before announcing he was switching to the DLP.
He retained his seat in the Northern Metropolitan region.
Former Liberal MP Bernie Finn wasn't so lucky, losing his seat in the Western Metropolitan region after also switching to the DLP.
Earlier this week, Reason Party leader Fiona Patten conceded defeat in the Northern Metropolitan region, bringing her eight-year stint in the upper house to an end.
Ms Patten described the result as "disappointing" but said it was a privilege to serve two terms in parliament.
"I would like to thank the voters for giving me an extraordinary eight years as a lawmaker. I tried every day to make things a little better and fairer," she said.
Ms Patten listed advocating for assisted dying legislation, harm minimisation reforms in drug law, and spent convictions reform among her achievements while in office.
She was also instrumental in the decriminalisation of sex work and the implementation of safe access zones to abortion clinics.
