leader of the party in December 2010. State Council Decisions affecting the state party are made through the State Council, a meeting that consists of a delegate from each local branch. In some cases, a delegate may represent more than a single branch. The State Council is the highest decision-making body, and controls election campaigns, sets the policy for the state party and decides on admitting new local branches to the Victorian Greens. State Council also convenes a Disputes Panel, which is responsible for overseeing investigations and acting on disputes lodged to it by party members against other members and bodies within the party. Branches Local branch catchment areas are based on local government area boundaries. Branches control a significant portion of campaign activity, both during elections and outside of election periods, and are also responsible for fundraising efforts and local membership engagement. In recent years, control of election campaigns, particularly at the State and Federal level, and to a lesser extent the Local level, has become increasingly centralised thus reducing the amount of input that local branches have over their election campaigns. Branches are also responsible for vetting and approving, deferring or rejecting new party members (a power State Council also has) and are generally responsible for local membership engagement; though branches don't have the power to suspend or expel members. A member residing within a branch catchment area is generally registered to that branch, while a member residing outside of any branch catchment area is considered "at-large", unless a member asks to be moved into another branch. Though members can be involved in more than one branch at a time, they can only be registered as members, and thus have voting power, within a single branch. In addition, branches can establish working groups and subcommittees to specialise in specific interest areas, tasks, and campaigns. Each branch elects Office Bearers consisting of at least a Convenor, Treasurer and Secretary, as well as a State Council delegate. Campaign committees Branches have the power, during election periods, to establish campaign committees, which may involve representatives from a single branch or delegates from multiple branches within an electorate area, as a means of centralising and coordinating campaign decisions within that electorate area for the duration of the election period. This includes decisions relating to fundraising and campaign spending. Candidate preselections Candidates for election, at all levels, are chosen by input of party