A new political party founded by Melbourne community advocate Raj Saini has been formally registered in Victoria, clearing the way for it to contest the November state election.
The Victorian Electoral Commission confirmed on 30 September that The Republican Make Australia Great Again, abbreviated on the register as The Republican, had satisfied the legal requirements for registration. The party first applied on 26 May and was required to demonstrate it had at least 500 members enrolled to vote in Victoria. The VEC said it verified that requirement by contacting members whose names had been submitted with the application.
The registration means the party can have its name printed beside endorsed candidates on Victorian state election ballot papers, centrally nominate candidates and register how-to-vote material, and potentially qualify for public funding under Victoria’s electoral laws.
The VEC lists Raj Kumar Saini as the party’s registered officer, with a registered officer address in Point Cook.
The party says it intends to contest a significant number of Legislative Assembly seats across Greater Melbourne as well as Legislative Council positions, with candidate announcements expected in the lead-up to the election.
Victorians go to the polls on Saturday, 28 November 2026, when all 88 Legislative Assembly seats and 40 Legislative Council positions will be contested. Candidate nominations open on 4 November and close on 9 November.
In material provided to The Australia Today, Saini described the registration as an important step for what he says is a grassroots political movement built around families, workers, small-business owners, professionals and community volunteers.
“The registration of The Republican is an important milestone, but it is only the beginning,” Saini said.
“We created this party because many everyday Victorians want their voices heard on the issues affecting their families and communities — the cost of living, community safety, housing, healthcare, education, infrastructure and opportunities for the next generation.”
The party is campaigning under the message “A Safer, Stronger and Fairer Victoria” and has nominated cost-of-living pressures, community safety, housing, healthcare, education, infrastructure, small business and government accountability as its main areas of focus.
Its published policy material includes commitments to review state government fees, fines and charges, reduce red tape, increase housing supply, improve infrastructure in growth corridors and strengthen oversight of public spending. It also says it wants more visible policing, tougher responses to violent and repeat offending, shorter hospital waiting times and a stronger focus on literacy, numeracy and vocational pathways in schools.
The party has also placed strong emphasis on Melbourne’s rapidly growing outer suburbs, arguing that roads, public transport, schools and health services have not always kept pace with population growth.
Who is Raj Saini?
Saini enters the 2026 election with a background in multicultural community advocacy rather than as a newcomer to politics.
According to his party biography, he arrived in Australia as an international student in 2008 and has spent more than a decade involved in migrant support, community organisations and engagement with government.
From 2017 to 2022, he served as president of the Indian Cultural Association of Victoria, where he was involved in organising major community events including the Footscray Diwali Festival. Maribyrnong City Council publicly identified Saini as president and organiser of the inaugural Footscray Diwali Festival in 2017.
He was also appointed to Victoria’s South Asian Ministerial Advisory Council, established to provide a direct line of communication between South Asian communities and the state government on issues including economic participation, multicultural representation and social cohesion. SBS reported Saini among the council’s members when it was announced in 2018.
Saini’s party biography says he founded Success to Migration in 2014, an initiative providing migrant settlement support, career guidance and community integration assistance, and has also served as a consumer adviser with Mercy Health.
He also has a history inside the Labor movement.
The Republican’s own biography says Saini joined the Australian Labor Party in 2014, later serving as assistant secretary of the Melton branch and as a state delegate for the Australian Workers’ Union before resigning from Labor.
That background makes his decision to establish a new political party notable, particularly at a time when both major parties are competing heavily for support in Melbourne’s multicultural growth corridors.
Saini has also previously contested an election.
At the 2025 federal election, he headed an unendorsed Victorian Senate group alongside Kirti Alle and Yashaswini Srinivas Kanakagiri. Australian Electoral Commission records confirm the three candidates appeared together as Group T on the Victorian Senate ballot.
Final Senate results show Group T received 2,103 first-preference votes, equivalent to about 0.05 per cent of Victoria’s formal Senate vote.
The Republican therefore represents a considerably more organised political vehicle than Saini’s previous independent Senate campaign, particularly because registered-party status gives it access to a party label on ballot papers and streamlined candidate nomination arrangements.
The ‘Make Australia Great Again’ name
The party’s full registered name is likely to draw attention.
The Republican Make Australia Great Again carries an obvious similarity to the “Make America Great Again” slogan associated internationally with US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
The VEC nevertheless accepted the name after the statutory application and objection process. Its June notice recorded the proposed full name as The Republican Make Australia Great Again and the intended ballot abbreviation as The Republican.
The name attracted media attention while registration was pending, including reports describing it as a “MAGA” party application based in Point Cook.
However, the policy material currently published by Saini’s party is focused overwhelmingly on Victorian state issues rather than US politics.
Its website describes the organisation as a “community-driven movement” built around “hard work, responsibility and respect” and says it was established to give everyday Victorians a stronger voice on affordability, infrastructure, healthcare, education and community safety.
Saini has also framed the party as distinct from traditional political structures.
“Our candidates will come from the communities they seek to represent,” he said.
“We want to listen to Victorians, understand the challenges they face and put forward practical policies that deliver better outcomes.”
The party says it is still finalising its candidate team, and it has not yet publicly released a complete list of seats it intends to contest.
Its performance will be closely watched in Melbourne’s west and other growth corridors, where cost-of-living pressures, transport congestion, housing affordability, crime and infrastructure have become major political issues.
The VEC expects almost 4.7 million Victorians to vote in the November election, which it says will be the largest Victorian state election yet.
For Saini, the shift from community advocate, former Labor member and independent Senate candidate to founder of a registered political party marks a new stage in his political career.
Whether The Republican can convert its community networks and newly acquired registered status into votes will become clearer when it begins naming candidates and campaigning across Melbourne ahead of 28 November.
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