In the lead-up to Victoria’s November 26 state election, at least one genuine controversy has punctuated a campaign period marked by a lack of meaningful contestation between the major parties.

At the heart of the controversy is Fiona Patten, leader of the (small-l) liberal Reason Party and one of five upper-house MPs representing Melbourne’s Northern Metropolitan Region. As the media would have it, Patten stands nobly above the backroom wheeling and dealing endemic to elections for the state’s legislative council. Indeed, she has previously denounced these maneuvers as “a corruption of the political process,” claiming that right-wing microparties have gained an unfair advantage over Reason, thanks to shadowy alliances.

Patten’s narrative is self-serving and cynical. As recent revelations have demonstrated, Patten is a leading beneficiary of exactly the same kind of corruption she has denounced other parties for engaging in.