The Legalise Cannabis Party is “in the mix” to capture the final Senate seat in Victoria as Fiona Patten chases a history-making victory at this weekend’s federal election.
While the party has 16 Senate candidates and is fighting 41 lower house seats – by far a record number – it is in Victoria where its best hopes lie in securing a voice in Canberra for the first time.
In a late boost, Labor placed the party as its first preference in Victoria, ahead of the Greens, in a move that carries the potential to tip the scales in Patten’s favour.
It is felt the party will require 5% of the vote in Saturday’s election to grab the sixth and final Victorian seat in what is expected to be a three-way contest between Legalise Cannabis and right-wing parties One Nation and Trumpet of Patriots.
In the absence of any major shocks, Labor and the Liberals will take two seats each with the Greens claiming one.
Patten said campaigning has gone well, with the party’s policies around cannabis resonating with many communities, particularly in inner city areas.
“Certainly the support is out there, the recognition is out there. The cannabis leaf is definitely not turning people away,” Patten told Cannabiz. “In fact, I have been surprised by the high level of support.”
Election campaigning has not focused solely on legalising adult-use cannabis, but has been more nuanced with candidates keen to bring medicinal cannabis into the discussion.
For Patten, her proven credentials as a state politician has been a key message that campaigners have pushed as they door knocked on the streets of Victoria.
“For me personally, campaigning has been about the fact that I have a track record as a thoughtful legislator, that I’ve got a track record of working with major parties to achieve change, and I think people are supportive of the work I did,” she said.
“And on the cannabis side, we have had many positive conversations. Everyone has a story to tell. People want to tell us about their grandmother who is receiving medicinal cannabis for pain, or the fact they’re using it for sleep.
“There have been lots of stories, plenty of ‘hell yeahs!’ from people. We’ve been able to talk about the black market and the growth of medicinal cannabis and how we can do that better.”
More than A$250,000 was raised for the Legalise Cannabis campaign, enabling the party to fund radio advertising and billboards across Australia. Volunteers have also been staffing polling booths in the final few days of the campaign.
“That’s the name of the game in these last few days,” Patten said. “It’s getting out there and being face-to-face with voters. It really does make a difference.”
Whether it will be enough to inch ahead of Clive Palmer’s anti-immigration Trumpet of Patriots party or Pauline Hansen’s One Nation remains to be seen.
Patten said she remained hopeful of representing the broad cannabis sector in Canberra, particularly after Labor preferenced Legalise Cannabis over the Greens.
“It’s a complicated system, but it could be worth up to 1% to 2% of the vote, which could mean getting elected or not,” she said. “That’s assuming people who vote Labor follow their ‘how to vote’ card and put us second. We’d prefer it, of course, if they put us first, and that’s certainly what we’ve been suggesting to Labor voters.
“Look, I think we’ve got a good chance. I’m not saying I’m super confident because there’s still a lot of unknowns, and I really don’t know what to expect from the One Nation vote.
“They are on the Liberal Party’s vote card for the first time ever, so we’re not sure how that’s going to play out.
“I’d like to thank all those who have donated to the cause, and we have had good industry support, but we don’t have the resources of Clive Palmer or even Pauline Hanson, so we’re just hoping our name gets ahead of theirs.
“We have been asking people to carefully consider their vote. If you don’t want One Nation, or Trumpet of Patriots, then vote Legalise Cannabis, and then vote for the larger parties you’d like to see in there.”
Patten predicted she will need 5% of the vote to grab the last seat.
“In 2022, when the party had been registered for only a few months, we got 3% of the vote so 5% is not beyond the realms of possibility,” she said. “We are definitely in the mix and our vote will undoubtedly increase, but whether it will be enough for us to win that last seat, we’ll have to see.”
While Patten is considered to have the best chance of victory, she is far from the only Legalise Cannabis candidate fighting for the cause.
The party has candidates in 41 lower house seats – it contested one solitary seat in 2022 – and is contesting every Senate race except in the ACT.
“This is the largest federal election campaign we have ever run,” Legalise Cannabis Australia national secretary Craig Ellis said. “We are hopeful, but getting someone elected at the federal level is a major challenge for a small party like ours – the quota required to elect a senator is much higher than in state elections.
“The final Senate seat in each state is likely to come down to preferences, so it’s great to see more parties – including Labor — putting Legalise Cannabis on their ‘how to vote’ cards. It not only strengthens our chances of electing a senator, but also shows that supporting Legalise Cannabis is no longer seen as a political risk.”
Views on the legalisation of cannabis among other parties is mixed. While Labor and the Liberals are generally against the idea, the Greens and some of the minority parties remain firmly in favour of lifting prohibition, or at least decriminalising adult use.
The Greens are of the firm view that the “war on drugs has failed” and has done nothing but fuel organised crime and put people in the criminal justice system for minor cannabis use.
“The Greens are working to legalise cannabis with a well-regulated market that prioritises public health, creates significant government revenue, and ends the criminalisation of cannabis users,” a spokesperson told Cannabiz.
Its plan is to establish a single national cannabis market by creating the Cannabis Australia National Agency (CANA) to regulate and licence growers and retailers.
Such a move will improve health outcomes through accurate labelling, safe growing conditions, and public health information, the party said.
The spokesperson added: “It will generate A$700 million a year in new federal revenue and hundreds of millions more for the states and territories — funding that could go straight to schools, hospitals, and climate action.”
Its plan to legalise cannabis will allow households to grow up to six plants for personal use without needing a licence or paying tax, while specialty cafes and dispensaries will also be permitted to sell cannabis.
On medicinal cannabis the Greens said that while “great progress” has been made, “the cost barrier is too great”.
“This results in an access gap where some people who require medicinal cannabis for chronic pain, mental health disorders, or several other health issues are not able to access it. The Greens’ plan would be to increase access to medicinal cannabis by allocating $10m over two years to fund a working group to investigate listing [it] on the PBS.”
The Socialist Alliance Party said its “basic policy” is for cannabis to be legalised.
“We generally support the delivery of medical cannabis, and think it’s a positive step forward,” the party’s national co-convenor Jacob Andrewartha said. “However, the ideal policy would be one that completely decriminalises possession and allows recreational use of cannabis.
“We also go further and argue that all recreational drugs should be decriminalised and think that drug addiction should be viewed as a health issue.
“Socialist Alliance are very critical of law and order policies by governments that target drug users because they disproportionately impact on marginalised and working class people.”
Meanwhile, the Animal Justice Party (AJP) said it supports decriminalising the use of cannabis and called for “lawful and safe supply”.
“The AJP acknowledges the evidence of adverse side effects and believes education, health care access and safe regulation are essential tools in addressing this,” its cannabis policy states.
“But on balance, we believe that the harm caused by criminalising cannabis is worse than the side effects of consuming it.
“We also support further efforts into investigating the medicinal properties of cannabis and making it available to those who may benefit, both human and non-human.”
The Libertarian Party, formerly known as the Liberal Democrats, said it has had a policy for the legalisation of adult use for more than 20 years, noting that former Senator David Leyonhjelm introduced a bill at the federal level in 2018.
“Libertarians believe in maximising freedom for individuals and eliminating unnecessary interference from the state in the personal lives and decisions of adults. As such, our preferred model would be to allow adults to grow, share, trade, or establish commercial businesses producing and providing cannabis products desired by members of the community,” the party told an inquiry in 2024.
“We would caution against any additional or excessive taxation, however, as this would stifle the development of legitimate business and diminish the ability of a legal market to undermine organised crime.”
On medical cannabis, the Libertarian party said: “Providing an effective legal pathway for non-medical adult use would allow resources in the health sector to focus on specialist medical cannabis services and ensure that the industry wasn’t unnecessarily pulling resources from the health sector.”
Whatever the outcome at the weekend – or whenever the election results are confirmed – Patten said she and her campaign team will gather at Melbourne’s Kelvin Club on Saturday night to raise a glass to a campaign well fought.
“We’ll have a few drinks for sure – and maybe something else. We are the Legalise Cannabis Party after all!” she said.
And it won’t only be parliamentary candidates marking the occasion. MardiGrass takes place this weekend where the cannabis community will gather for the annual festival in Nimbin.
Given the clash, president of the MardiGrass organising committee, Michael Balderstone, urged people to vote before arriving at Plantem Park.
“Albo’s called the election for the same weekend and we recommended voters use a prepoll before they come to Nimbin rather than crushing the polling booth at Nimbin on the Saturday,” he said.
“The Plantem Park stages are ready with Indica Arena and Sativa Stadium looking like the MCG and prepared for a big crowd.
“We just ask that wherever possible people vote before they come, and of course vote for Legalise Cannabis, at least in the Senate.”
