Victoria's Upper House inquiry: the case for a citizens' assembly

In December 2025 the Victorian parliament completed an inquiry into the state's Upper House electoral system. Among its findings: it recommended that any reform process should involve either an expert panel, a citizens' assembly, or a constitutional convention before putting changes to a referendum.1

The backdrop is a significant decline in public trust. The 2025 Australian Election Study found only 32% of Australians trust government.2 When surveyed on reform options, the most popular was a citizens' assembly — a body of randomly selected citizens who deliberate on policy issues — with 48% support and only 20% opposed.3

The inquiry itself considered two main electoral options, both involving moving to statewide proportional representation rather than the current eight regional seats. The most supported option among inquiry respondents would lower the election quota from 16.7% to 2.4%, making it substantially easier for minor parties and independents to win seats.4

What's notable here is the process question as much as the outcome question: the inquiry explicitly recommended a citizens' assembly as a legitimate mechanism for deciding how to reform elections. That's a meaningful shift in how deliberative democracy is being discussed at the institutional level in Australia.

Further reading: - Inquiry into Victoria's Upper House electoral system — Parliament of Victoria. Final report tabled 2 December 2025. - Australian Election Study 2025 — the 2025 Election Report and Trends report include the trust and citizens' assembly polling figures cited above. - Victorian Democrats policy page — independently cites and confirms the same AES 2025 figures.

  1. "That, following the 2026 election, a new process be established to consider and negotiate different views about the best electoral structure for Victoria’s Upper House and make a recommendation if it reaches general agreement." The forms the committee names for this independent process are an expert panel, a citizens’ assembly or a constitutional convention. Quoted from the Victorian Electoral Commission's "Response to the Electoral Matters Committee report on Victoria's Upper House electoral system" (PDF), linked from the inquiry's reports page, Parliament of Victoria (March 2026). ↩

  2. "Trust in government (32 percent) and satisfaction with democracy (70 percent) have remained stable since the last election." Sarah Cameron, Ian McAllister, Simon Jackman, Jill Sheppard, "The 2025 Australian Federal Election: Results from the Australian Election Study", Australian Election Study, November 2025, p.1. ↩

  3. "There is also high public support for the idea of a Citizens’ Assembly in Australia (48 percent in favour, 20 percent not in favour)." Sarah Cameron, Ian McAllister, Simon Jackman, Jill Sheppard, "The 2025 Australian Federal Election: Results from the Australian Election Study", Australian Election Study, November 2025, p.1. ↩

  4. "To be elected in the current structure [with eight regions], a candidate must receive 16.7% of the vote, either through first preference votes or through the flow of preferences." The most-preferred reform option — a single statewide electorate with no regions — "results in a quota of 2.4% (the portion of votes a candidate needs to be elected)." Victorian Democrats policy page, Australian Democrats Victoria, citing the Parliament of Victoria inquiry's discussion paper (Oct 2024) and modelling reported by Guardian Australia (2 Dec 2025). ↩