Election Campaign Governance

Scope and purpose

1. This bylaw gives effect to clause 55.5 of the Constitution.

Responsibility to direct campaigns

2. The body with primary responsibility for directing the campaign for each Victorian Legislative Assembly or Federal House of Representatives seat is set out in schedule 1 of this bylaw.

3. State Executive may amend schedule 1 to give effect to the following principles:

   1. If a single Branch overlaps with an electorate and is willing to direct the campaign then that Branch will be assigned the responsibility

   2. If multiples Branches overlap with an electorate and at least one is willing to direct the campaign, then

      1. if the Branches agree which of them should direct the campaign then that Branch will be assigned the responsibility

      2. if the Branches disagree on which of them should direct the campaign then the Branch with the most members residing in the electorate on the last census date will be assigned the responsibility.

   3. If no Branch overlaps with an electorate then responsibility may be assigned to a nearby Branch that volunteers for the task or to the Victorian Campaign Committee.

4. A Branch with primary responsibility for the campaign in an electorate may form an election campaign committee for the management of the campaign for a given election period. The Branch may allocate more than one electorate to the same committee.

5. Should a Branch form an election campaign committee, it must:

   1. Before the first meeting of the committee – notify the Convenors and Secretaries of any other Branch that falls wholly or partly within the electorate/s overseen by the committee.

   2. Without unreasonable delay – notify the State Secretary, the State Treasurer and the Victorian Campaign Committee convenor of its formation, composition and office bearers.

6. Regional campaign committees may be established in advance of any State or Federal general election, either by State Council deciding to establish a new regional campaign committee, or by State Council permitting an existing Regional Council to also actthe Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 as a regional campaign committee. Where established, regional campaign committees will:

   1. direct the campaign for any Victorian Legislative Council election within its remit;

   2. direct the campaign for any electorate which the responsible branch (as per Schedule 1) delegates to the regional campaign committee;

   3. facilitate cooperation between any Branches or campaign committees directing campaigns within its area; and

   4. abide by its terms of reference, as determined by State Council upon establishment.

Campaign Coordinator

7. All campaigns must appoint or elect a campaign coordinator under section 55.7(a) of the constitution. This will normally be an office bearer or a staff member employed to work with the committee

8. The Campaign Coordinator is responsible for coordinating campaign activities.

9. The Campaign Coordinator will generally be the primary contact person for the campaign to the VCCVictorian Campaign Committee, other AGVAustralian Greens Victoria bodies and relevant AGVAustralian Greens Victoria staff.

10. Upon appointment, the Campaign Coordinator should notify the VCCVictorian Campaign Committee Convenor of their appointment with appropriate contact details.

11. The Branch or relevant campaign committee may delegate authority to the campaign coordinator for particular operational activities during the campaign, including expending funds up to a specified limit.

Powers and Responsibilities of Election Campaign Committees

12. An election campaign committee will have the power and responsibility to do the following in relation to the electorates within its jurisdiction:

    1. Conduct (but not determine the method of) preselection;

    2. Develop the campaigning strategies, for endorsement by the Branch. Strategies should complement and not contradict endorsed strategies and decisions of the Victorian Campaign Committee and State Council (and the National Council in the case of Federal electorates);

    3. Develop a campaign budget for endorsement by the Branch;

    4. Make expenditure in line with the branch-endorsed budget and campaign strategies and within delegated limits specified by the Branch;

    5. With the approval of the most senior staff memberState Director of the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria, conduct any staff employment process, noting however that only the most senior staff memberState Director of the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria may sign employment contracts and that direction of any employed campaign staff must be through the most senior staff memberState Director or their delegate;

    6. Establish, if it considers appropriate, a campaign management team to coordinate the campaign on a day to day basis, and delegate to that team clearly defined powers of the committee. If a campaign management team is established, it will be required to record its decisions and report in writing to each meeting of the committee advising of all substantive decisions it has made;

    7. Contribute to a supportive and accountable environment for all people volunteering or working on the campaign;

    8. Manage local access and appropriate input to information systems to maintain data integrity; and

    9. Co-opt committee members in accordance with clause 16(g).

13. Election campaign committees are at all times accountable for:

    1. Ensuring financial management is undertaken in accordance with the Financial Management and Reporting Bylaw;

    2. Ensuring financial record keeping is undertaken in accordance with clauses 55.7 and 55.8 of the Constitution and any advice issued by the State Council or its standing committees;

    3. Ensuring that donations received by the committee are managed in accordance with the Donations and Loans Bylaw;

    4. Providing all necessary information to the State Convenor, the Secretary and the Treasurer, Partythe incorporated association referred to in clause 40(1) Agent and Registered Officer for the purposes of compliance with relevant Commonwealth or Victorian legislation; and

    5. Complying with directives of the State Council and/or the Victorian Campaign Committee.

14. Election campaign committees must provide a written report within two months of the conclusion of an election for the electorate/s it covers to its constituent Branches and the Victorian Campaign Committee, setting out the findings and recommendations of the committee in relation to the campaign. The Victorian Campaign Committee may direct that the written report take a particular form.

15. The election campaign committee will cease to exist two months after an election, or when its final report has been produced, whichever is sooner.

Membership of and Roles Within Election Campaign Committees

16. Election campaign committees will consist of:

    1. At least three and at most six members elected by the Branch, who shall be voting members;

    2. The campaign committee treasurer. By default this will be the Branch treasurer, but the Branch may decide to appoint another member as campaign committee treasurer, in which case this member must:

       1. Be provided with access to all Branch financial information; and
       
       2. Report all financial decisions of the committee to the Branch
       treasurer.

    3. The endorsed candidate/s for the electorate/s within the jurisdiction of the committee, who shall be voting members;

    4. Where there is an incumbent Greens elected representative in an electorate within the jurisdiction of the committee, that representative or an AGVAustralian Greens Victoria Member appointed by that representative, who shall be a voting member;

    5. At the Victorian Campaign Committee’s discretion, an AGVAustralian Greens Victoria member appointed by the Victorian Campaign Committee, who shall be a non-voting member of the committee and who may not block consensusthe circumstance in which no member of the party body who is in attendance objects to the proposal being passed, having been given the opportunity to do so on any question before the committee;

    6. The most senior staff memberState Director (who is an AGVAustralian Greens Victoria member) employed to work on a campaign for an electorate covered by the committee, who shall be non-voting members of the committee and who may not block consensusthe circumstance in which no member of the party body who is in attendance objects to the proposal being passed, having been given the opportunity to do so on any question before the committee;

    7. Any of the following AGVAustralian Greens Victoria Members whom the committee decides to co-opt:

       1. Persons with the responsibility of liaising with other campaign committees operating in the same area, for example a Local Government election campaign committee established by a Branch. Such persons will be non-voting members;

       2. One or more members elected by a Branch which falls partly or wholly within the electorates overseen by the committee, if the Branch is not already represented on the committee. Such a person will be a voting member;

       3. Any member of the campaign management team, if one has been established, who is not otherwise a member of the committee. Such a person will be a non-voting member; and

       4. Any other person to complement the skills of existing committee members. Such persons will be non-voting members.

17. At the request if a Branch (other than the responsible Branch) that falls wholly or partly within the electorate/s overseen by the committee, at least one member of that Branch must be co-opted under clause 16(g)(ii) for every whole 15% of the membership residing in the relevant electorates that are members of that Branch.

18. For Local Council election campaign committees, a Branch may choose a structure other than that articulated in clause 16, provided that the structure is clearly set out in a resolutiona proposal that was passed of the Branch, and that reasonable notice is given of any elected committee positions.

19. Committee members described at 16(a) will be elected by the Branch at the formation of the election campaign committee. The number of members elected will b three unless another allowable number is agreed to by the Branch before nominations are opened.

20. The Branch may fill any casual vacancyincludes a vacancy caused by an office not being filled at an election for one or more of its representatives at any time.

21. Committee members are expected to report committee activities and decisions to their Branch and to communicate the expectations of their Branch to the committee.

22. Any committee member may be removed at any time by a decision of the Branch, or by a two-thirds majority vote of the election campaign committee, upon which the Branch may elect a new committee member.

23. Election campaign committees will appoint a committee Convenor (or co-Convenors), and a committee Secretary (or co- Secretaries) at their first or second meeting, or at the next general meeting of the committee where there is any vacancy in either office.

24. The committee Convenor (or co-Convenors) shall be responsible, among other things, to facilitate meetings or ensure the appointment of meeting facilitators, and provide the Victorian Campaign Committee with written reports on the activity of the election campaign committee as and when requested.

25. The committee Secretary (or co-Secretaries) shall be responsible, among other things, to provide notice of meetings and prepare and distribute meeting agendas after consulting the Convenor, and prepare and distribute meeting minutes, keep a record of all committee correspondence and other documentation, and provide the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria State Secretary with any committee documentation requested.

26. The committee Treasurer (or co-Treasurers) shall be responsible, among other things, to support the committee’s budget planning process, provide financial reports to meetings of the committee (except where a staff member has been employed to undertake this role), lead the committee’s financial management and record keeping work (except where a staff member has been employed to undertake this role), and provide the AGVAustralian Greens Victoria State Treasurer with any committee documentation requested.

Meetings of Election Campaign Committees

27. Quorum of a meeting of an election campaign committee shall be a majority of its current voting members appointed as at the date of the meeting, or 3, whichever is more.

28. Where the date for the next meeting has not been set in advance by a meeting of an election campaign committee, the committee Secretary, after consulting the Convenor, shall be responsible for advertising the next meeting with at least five days notice. Meetings may be called with less than five days notice if the committee Convenor and Secretary can reasonably establish an urgent reason to do so.

Schedule 1: Responsible Branches for State and Federal Electorates

Federal Electorate	Responsible Branch	State Electorate	Responsible Branch
Aston	Maroondah-Knox	Albert Park	Port Phillip
Ballarat	Ballarat and District	Altona	Hobson’s Bay
Bendigo	Bendigo	Bass	Bass Coast
Bruce	Casey Dandenong	Bayswater	Maroondah-Knox
Calwell	Hume-Moreland	Bellarine	Bellarine
Casey	Dandenong Ranges	Benambra	North East Branch
Chisholm	Whitehorse	Bendigo East	Bendigo
Cooper	Darebin	Bendigo West	Mount Alexander
Corangamite	Bellarine	Bentleigh	Bayside Glen Eira
Corio	Geelong	Box Hill	Whitehorse
Deakin	Maroondah-Knox	Brighton	Bayside Glen Eira
Dunkley	Frankston	Broadmeadows	Hume-Moreland
Flinders	Mornington Peninsula	Brunswick	Hume-Moreland
Fraser	Brimbank	Bulleen	Manningham
Gellibrand	Maribyrnong	Bundoora	Banyule
Gippsland	East Gippsland	Buninyong	Ballarat and District
Goldstein	Bayside Glen Eira	Burwood	Boroondara
Gorton	Melton Branch	Carrum	Frankston
Higgins	Stonnington	Caulfield	Bayside Glen Eira
Holt	Casey Dandenong	Clarinda	Kingston
Hotham	Monash	Cranbourne	Casey Dandenong
Indi	North East Branch	Croydon	Maroondah-Knox
Isaacs	Kingston	Dandenong	Casey Dandenong
Jagajaga	Banyule	Eildon	Healesville and Upper Yarra
Kooyong	Boroondara	Eltham	Nillumbik
La Trobe	Cardinia	Essendon	Moonee Valley
Lalor	Wyndham	Euroa	North East Branch
Macnamara	Port Phillip	Evelyn	Dandenong Ranges
Mallee	Mildura	Ferntree Gully	Maroondah-Knox
Maribyrnong	Moonee Valley	Footscray	Maribyrnong
McEwen	Macedon Rangers	Forest Hill	Whitehorse
Melbourne	Melbourne City Branch	Frankston	Frankston
Menzies	Manningham	Geelong	Geelong
Monash	Greater Gippsland	Gembrook	Cardinia
Nicholls	Goulburn Murray	Gippsland East	East Gippsland
Scullin	Whittlesea-Mitchell	Gippsland South	Greater Gippsland
Wannon	Warrnambool	Hastings	Mornington Peninsula
Wills	Hume-Moreland	Hawthorn	Boroondara
		Ivanhoe	Banyule
		Kew	Boroondara
		Keysborough	Kingston
		Kororoit	Brimbank
		Lara	Geelong
		Lowan	No Branch
		Macedon	Macedon Ranges
		Malvern	Stonnington
		Melbourne	Melbourne
		Melton	Melton
		Mildura	Mildura
		Mill Park	Whittlesea-Mitchell
		Monbulk	Dandenong Ranges
		Mordialloc	Kingston
		Mornington	Mornington Peninsula
		Morwell	Greater Gippsland
		Mount Waverley	Monash
		Mulgrave	Monash
		Murray Plains	No branch
		Narracan	Greater Gippsland
		Narre Warren North	Casey-Dandenong
		Narre Warren South	Casey-Dandenong
		Nepean	Mornington Peninsula
		Niddrie	Moonee Valley
		Northcote	Darebin
		Oakleigh	Monash
		Ovens Valley	North East Branch
		Pascoe Vale	Hume-Moreland
		Polwarth	Otways
		Prahran	Stonnington
		Preston	Darebin
		Richmond	Yarra
		Ringwood	Whitehorse
		Ripon	Ballarat & District
		Rowville	Maroondah-Knox
		Sandringham	Bayside Glen Eira
		Shepparton	Goulburn-Murray
		South Barwon	Surf Coast
		South-West Coast	Warrnambool
		St Albans	Brimbank
		Sunbury	No Branch
		Sydenham	Brimbank
		Tarneit	Wydnham
		Thomastown	Darebin
		Warrandyte	Manningham
		Wendouree	Ballarat & District
		Werribee	Wyndham
		Williamstown	Hobson’s Bay
		Yan Yean	Nillumbik
		Yuroke	Hume-Moreland

Modification History

Action	Body	Date
Endorsed	State Council	2016-01-30
Amended	State Executive	2018-07-19
Amended	State Executive	2019-02-21
Amended	State Executive	2019-06-20
Amended	State Executive	2019-09-19
Amended	State Council	2020-12-12
Amended	State Executive	2021-02-18