Elections for Victoria’s upper house could be overhauled under proposals to stamp out ‘preference whispering’

Victoria’s legislative council is the only house of parliament in Australia still using group voting tickets in elections. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

A Labor-led inquiry is considering a huge overhaul of Victorian parliament’s upper house in an effort to stamp out the practice of “preference whispering” and bring it into line with other Australian jurisdictions.

The electoral matters committee, chaired by the Labor MP Luba Grigorovitch, released a discussion paper on Monday suggesting six possible options for reform, which include adopting the model used for the New South Wales upper house and that of the federal Senate.