Legalise Cannabis Victoria is weighing potential legal action if a newly proposed political party bearing a near-identical name gains approval ahead of November's state election.
Campaign advisor Craig Ellis said he would "look at legal options" in the event of the Legalise Marijuana Party being approved by the Victoria Electoral Commission (VEC).
Ellis made the comment after submitting a formal objection to the registration of the new party, contending it was an "egregious attempt" to draw votes away from the Legalise Cannabis Party.
In a letter addressed to electoral commissioner Warwick Gately, Ellis argued that the name "so nearly resembles" its own that it is "likely to be confused with or mistaken for that name".
"If you look at this in the context of a trademark case, it would be absolutely outrageous," Ellis said. "It's a major distraction. We should be focusing on legalising cannabis, but we're getting these left-field challenges."
Ellis contended in the objection letter that the words 'cannabis' and 'marijuana' are used interchangeably and "overwhelmingly resemble each other".
"There is no material differentiating elements in the name Legalise Marijuana Party to Legalise Cannabis Victoria," he wrote. "We regard the attempt to register the Legalise Marijuana Party as an egregious case of passing off designed to confuse voters to siphon votes away from Legalise Cannabis."
Ellis also noted that Legalise Cannabis is an established party throughout Australia at both state and federal level, with elected MPs sitting in Western Australia's Legislative Council.
The mystery party
The background and policy positions of Legalise Marijuana remain unknown. Ellis said party members have been unable to make contact with the rival group, with the registered residential address believed to be vacant and listed on the market for sale.
The party also has no website, and multiple media organisations have been unable to track down anyone representing it.
In the party's application to the VEC, Gurmeet Kaur was named as secretary. A person of the same name — employed by Museums Victoria — posted on social media stating she had no involvement with any political movement.
Despite the absence of publicly available information — which prompted Ellis to describe Legalise Marijuana as a trojan horse — any application to register a party with the VEC must be submitted alongside a list of at least 500 members.
The VEC then contacts those members, requiring 500 of them to respond and confirm their membership before registration can be finalised.
Among the conditions for registration is the requirement that a party's name "must not be the name or confusingly similar to the name of another registered political party".
Ellis said Legalise Cannabis Victoria currently has close to 1,500 members and is approaching the threshold of 500 active membership confirmations required by the VEC.
"I'm confident we'll get the 500 we need in order to be registered," he said.
