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Illustration: Matt Golding.

Victoria's voting laws could be overhauled to stem the tide of micro parties who get elected to parliament with only a tiny proportion of the vote.

Five months after the state election in which several micro parties won coveted spots in the upper house Liberals and Labor insiders are considering voting reforms to force candidates to meet a higher threshold of first preference votes before they are elected.

The proposal was one of several motions passed at Liberal state council last week, with proponents arguing that the results of November's poll produced "distorted outcomes", just as it did in the federal Senate, where Motoring Enthusiast Ricky Muir was elected with only 0.51 per cent of first preferences.

"Loose rules for the registration of political parties, voting above the line, and preference harvesting by micro parties have resulted in micro party candidates being elected to the Legislative Council on very low first preference votes," said one resolution, put forward by the Liberals' Sydenham electorate council. "The results of the 2014 Victorian state election can not be said to reflect the will of the people."

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A shake-up of Victoria's voting laws was raised ahead of the election last year, when then premier Denis Napthine approached Daniel Andrews with the idea that candidates could be elected only if they secured at least 5 per cent of the vote.

Mr Andrews rejected the proposal at the time, and the government says changing the system is not a priority at present. However, Labor sources have told The Sunday Age that some within party ranks have started talking about the need for reform, and it was likely that an approach could be made to the Liberals at some point before the 2018 state election in a bid to gain bipartisan support.

Asked if he would support such a shift, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said:"As the Opposition, we will consider any draft legislation that the Andrews government puts forward."

In Victoria's upper house, there are five micro-party MPs sitting on the crossbench: the Sex Party's Fiona Patten (who was elected with 2.63 per cent of first preferences); the DLP's Rachel Carling-Jenkins (2.32 per cent); Jeff Bourman and Daniel Young from the Shooter's and Fisher's Party (1.65 per cent) and James Purcell from Vote 1 Local Jobs (0.21 per cent).

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State Liberals and Labor contemplate voting reform in Victorian upper house

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Four years ago, as Labor campaign director, Luke Foley declared: "The heartland is gone." Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

As the reckoning began about Barry O'Farrell's whopping election victory four years ago, some senior Liberals dared to ask themselves a question: could this be an opportunity to rewrite the NSW electoral map forever?

The catalyst was the tsunami of Liberal blue that flooded seats in western Sydney the party had never before considered itself capable of holding.

The party still has a long way to go before it can be confident of preventing a third term for the Coalition.

In his victory speech O'Farrell nominated Campbelltown, just won by a former local policeman, Bryan Doyle, and Parramatta, won by Geoff Lee.

But there were plenty of others such as Penrith - where Stuart Ayres was returned after setting the stage by winning it in a byelection the previous June - as well as Mulgoa and Granville.

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On election night, a jubilant O'Farrell said the Liberals had "won tonight seats we never dreamed of winning". The victories in Campbelltown and Penrith, he declared, demonstrated that "we Liberals can represent anyone".

Meanwhile, a dejected Labor campaign spokesman Luke Foley declared of the result: "The heartland is gone."

The next day former premier Nick Greiner went so far as to tell Fairfax Media that O'Farrell had an unprecedented opportunity "to rework the electoral map in a permanent sense".

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Has Mike Baird given Sydney's west a permanent blue hue?