PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA
	Tel +613 9589 1802	Tel +61429176725	18 Anita Street	BEAUMARIS VIC 3193
		info@prsa.org.au	www.prsa.org.au	2008-07-24

The Four Failed Attempts at Establishing Party List Systems for Legislatures of Australian States and Territories The requirements in Sections 7 and 24 of the Australian Constitution, and in the Western Australian Constitution, that MPs “shall be directly chosen by the people” have fortunately protected voters for those parliaments from party list systems.
1915	A Parliamentary Committee rejected an ALP proposal to replace Tasmania’s Hare-Clark quota-preferential PR system with a Party List system. See “Quota-preferential PR versus Party List.” The Secretary of what is now the Electoral Reform Society in the British Isles travelled to Tasmania to give persuasive evidence on why a Party List system should not be substituted for Hare-Clark.
1973	The Dunstan ALP Government’s reform of South Australia’s Legislative Council introduced a Party List system, but a subsequent Liberal Government replaced it with a quota-preferential PR system in 1985, with Australian Democrats’ support in the Upper House.
1978	The Wran ALP Government’s first bill for popular elections for the New South Wales Legislative Council proposed a Party List system, but the Opposition Leader, Sir Eric Willis, said the referendum needed would be opposed unless a quota-preferential PR system was substituted for it, so that change was made, and the referendum was carried. The PRSA(NSW) pressed for quota-preferential PR and not a Party List.
1989	The Hawke ALP Federal Government introduced a “Modified d’Hondt” Party List system for the 1989 and 1992 elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory, but public dissatisfaction led to a plebiscite to choose whether its replacement should be a Hare-Clark quota-preferential PR system or a system of single-member districts. The Hare-Clark PR system was chosen by 65% of voters, and was thus introduced. A subsequent referendum in 1995 entrenched it, with 65% of voters favouring that entrenchment. The PRSA(ACT) campaigned for Hare-Clark in both those successful polls.