Rank-and-file Victorian Liberal party members will use this month’s state council meeting to push for a regulated cannabis market for adult use, overhaul heritage and planning laws to tackle the housing crisis and introduce a full year of parental leave with a “daddy quota”.
The motions are among 62 on the draft agenda for the Victorian Liberal state council – the party’s annual general meeting – on 12-13 September. Other motions include proposals to scrap net zero targets, renters’ rights reforms and diversity quotas.
The motions are non-binding on either the state or federal parliamentary parties but provide an insight into the policy direction of Liberal membership.
Put forward by former Liberal staffer turned lobbyist Mark Briers, the cannabis motion calls on the state party to adopt a policy to establish a regulated retail market of licensed cannabis dispensaries.
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Under the proposal, cannabis would be treated similar to alcohol, with a state tax on sales benchmarked to the federal government’s existing alcohol excise duty for beer. Of this tax, 70% would to go to reducing state debt and the remaining 30% to funding drug and alcohol support services.
“By legalising the sale of products (as we already do via prescription) and charging an excise, just as we do with alcohol, we allow Victorian adults to exercise freedom of choice; remove an unnecessary regulation/barrier in requiring a prescription, break the business model of criminals and collect desperately needed tax revenue for our state to pay down Labor’s debt,” the motion reads.
Economic modelling commissioned by the drug research and advocacy group the Penington Institute, published in July, showed a regulated adult-use cannabis market could inject $10bn into Victoria’s economy over a decade.
That same month, the Penington Institute also released YouGov polling that found 57% of Victorians support allowing “adults to buy cannabis legally – similar to alcohol – but with stricter safety and regulatory controls”.
The chief executive of the Penington Institute, John Ryan, welcomed the conference motion, saying measures to reduce drug harm and improve community safety “should be above politics”.
“Cannabis regulation is a common sense reform that all political parties should get behind,” he said. “It’s time we moved on from the failed prohibition and law enforcement approaches of the past.”
In the mid-1990s, then Liberal premier Jeff Kennett was supportive of decriminalising the use of cannabis, but was overruled by his party. Kennett also set up a drug advisory council led by David Penington, for whom the Penington Institute is named.
The Victorian Liberals’ policy forums committee – made of rank-and-file members – also have put forward several motions, including reforms to the Heritage Act to “prevent the misuse of heritage protection that can impede housing development”.
They also call for changes to planning laws to create a uniform set of standardised planning controls tied to zoning categories. These changes would replace various local policies and overlays with a single standardised set of rules – a move welcomed by housing advocacy group Yimby Melbourne.
“It’s a great signal that the Liberal party is beginning to recognise that there is a problem with the local opposition to housing we desperately need,” lead organiser Jonathan O’Brien said. “Bringing down red tape is traditionally a Liberal idea, right?”
The policy forum committee will also move a motion urging the federal Liberal party to introduce 52 weeks of paid parental leave, with 26 weeks paid at a full wage and the remaining 26 at the national minimum wage. This would include a “daddy quota” that would give the second parent a non-transferable four-week leave entitlement to use within the year.
Other proposals are not dissimilar to those put forward at recent Queensland and Western Australia conferences. They include a push to abandon net zero by 2025, reverse a federal ban on live exports, “protect sport for women and girls” and a reject gender or diversity quotas.
A motion put forward by the Mornington-Mt Martha branch also calls on a future state Liberal government to scrap Labor’s rental reforms, which allow tenants to have pets, make minor modifications without consent and require electrical and gas inspections by landlords every two years. They said the changes had “pushed many landlords to sell their properties”.
The Victorian Liberals’ administrative committee, including party president, will also be up for re-election at the state council.
In a statement, a Victorian Liberal spokesperson said: “Motions proposed and considered at State Council are not binding on the State Parliamentary Party, and will be considered and responded to in the usual way.”
