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Newsletter of the Proportional Representation Society of |
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QN2001A |
March 2001 |
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Constitutional Commission to Report on On 19th March 2001 the Premier of Victoria, Hon. Steve Bracks MLA, announced the establishment of a Constitutional Commission to investigate and make recommendations on reform of the Victorian Legislative Council. Mr Bracks’s media release stated, “We made a commitment to
Victorians that we would reform the Upper House to ensure that it is
accountable and that it operates effectively as a genuine House of Review.
The establishment of this Commission will give all Victorians a chance to
have their say on whether the Upper House is doing its job, and how it could
be improved. The Victorian Upper House is unrepresentative and obstructionist
- and its reform is long overdue. ... Upper Houses have been reformed in all
Australian states except Mr Bracks noted that the Victorian Opposition had also committed to the establishment of a constitutional commission in its charter with the Independents (see QN1999D) and expressed hope for a “bipartisan approach to the development of a much more democratic and accountable structure for Victoria's Legislative Council”. Chairing the Commission is Professor the Hon. George Hampel QC, a Justice
of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1983 to 2000, before his appointment to
his present position of Professor of Advocacy and Trial Practice at Mr Hampel will be joined by the Hon. Ian Macphee AO and the Hon. Alan Hunt AM, who bring extensive parliamentary experience to the Commission. A lawyer, Mr Macphee was the Liberal Member of the House of
Representatives for the Also a lawyer, Mr Hunt was a Liberal Member of the The Constitutional Commission is to invite submissions from the public, conduct hearings throughout the State, and report by 30th June 2002, at an estimated overall cost of $2 million. Its terms of reference are focused on the role of the Upper House, as well as on fixed four-year terms. Specifically, the Commission is asked to "research, investigate, consult, report on and make recommendations" concerning the following issues: "Whether the governance of (a) Enable the Legislative Council to operate effectively as a genuine
House of Review. In considering this term, the (i) the responsiveness and responsibility of the Upper House to the Victorian people;
(iii) whether the Legislative
Council should retain the power to reject appropriation bills, and, if so,
whether any or (iv) whether the Members of the Legislative Council should be elected one half at each election or should all be simultaneously elected; (v) whether the Legislative Council should be elected on the basis of proportional representation and, if so whether this should be on the basis of multi-member electorates or on any other and what basis. (b) Give effect to any and, if so, what of the following further measures: (i) a fixed four-year term of Parliament. (ii) the reduction, to any and what extent, of the total number of Members of either House of Parliament. (iii) the removal or modification in any way of the nexus between the Houses, which is provided by sections 27 and 28 of the Constitution Act. That nexus is comprised of the following elements:
In making the report or reports of its research and investigations, the Commission is to include any recommendations arising out of its inquiry as it considers appropriate, including recommendations regarding any proposed legislative or administrative changes that are necessary or desirable. The PRSA’s Victoria-Tasmania Branch will continue to promote quota-preferential methods of electing the Council, and is planning to make a substantial submission to the Commission. WA and Qld Assemblies: An Absolute Majority of Seats from Minority
Vote The defeat of the Court Government in In both elections, a single party gained an absolute majority of Lower House seats with less than an absolute majority of first preference votes, and the percentage of seats won was about 50% greater than the percentage of first preference votes gained. The only other party to experience similar or greater seat leverage was the National Party in WA. In each case, the overall summary of the percentages of first preference votes cast, the seats that could have been won under a Hare-Clark electoral system, and those actually won, is shown in the tables below. 2001 Western Australian Legislative Assembly Polls
2001
Graph Showing Queensland Results A detailed PR Analysis of the 2001 polls for the Legislative Assembly of both of those States, obtained by aggregating voting figures in groups of adjoining single-member electorates, now appears at www.prsa.org.au, the Web site of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia. In Western Australia, in 79% of the Legislative Assembly seats (45 of 57), the first preference votes of an absolute majority of voters were for candidates that were not elected, whereas that applied to 47% of Queensland seats (42 of 89). In While the Australian Labor Party increased its share of first preferences
by just 1.4%, it achieved a net gain of 14 seats from the situation prior to
the election, losing only the seat of Four Independents were elected and on four occasions, all in the South West Region, the last defeated candidate was from the One Nation Party. In the 34-member Legislative Council based on regional electorates returning five or seven members through quota-preferential methods, Labor and the Greens lifted their first preferences by nearly 5% and 2.5% respectively, while the share lost by the Liberal and National Parties slightly exceeded 10% (One Nation’s vote was slightly less) and that of the Australian Democrats fell nearly 3%. Compared with 1996 outcomes, Labor picked up two seats in the Legislative Council (both at the expense of Australian Democrats) as did the Greens (just edging out Liberals in both the Agricultural Region and Mining and Pastoral Region). The One Nation Party won three seats (one from Labor and two from the Nationals). The Coalition held half of the seats in the previous Legislative Council
during the previous Parliament, all seats in which are contestable at each
General Election, unlike the other Upper Houses in In Both the National and Liberal leaders stepped down after the election at which their parties’ combined seats fell from 32 to 15, with the former announcing his retirement from politics on election night itself and prompting a Surfers Paradise by-election. The Australian Labor Party vote was
particularly concentrated in the centre and suburbs of Two Very Different Approaches to the Filling of Casual Vacancies One-time ACT Chief Minister, Mrs Kate Carnell, resigned from the ACT Legislative Assembly on 13th December 2000. Of the 42 candidates in her seat of Molonglo not elected at the general elections of 1998, 10 had nominated by 12th January 2001, the end of the ten-day period following publication in The Canberra Times of a notice inviting applications from eligible candidates for her seat. With candidates’ names printed on ballot-papers in accordance with the Robson Rotation system, no consenting candidate could expect a decisive advantage in the countback from votes straight down party columns. As Mrs Carnell had received nearly three quotas of first preference votes, more than 25,000 ballot-papers had to be re-examined. A total of 1,529 (6.0%) were either exhausted outright or had no next available preference for any of the 10 consenting candidates. The rest were distributed among two Liberal candidates (88.7%), one ALP (3.2%), four Independents (3.1%), one Australian Democrat (3.0%) and two ACT Greens (2.1%). With over 54% of the ballot-papers that had not become exhausted, Jacqui Burke was known to be the successor on the second day of counting, having been placed next on nearly 5,000 ballot-papers more than her Liberal colleague, John Louttit. She was formally declared elected two days later, on 18th January 2001. Apart from some speculation about the successor, and explanatory material about Hare-Clark recounts in articles, the only media excitement was occasioned by the 3,000 ballot-paper advantage that Mr Louttit held at the end of the first day of counting. There was no diversion at all of the business of government in that period. In contrast, when the former Defence Minister, Hon John Moore, resigned
from the A media throng focused for weeks on disputes in the hard-fought Liberal preselection contest, unprecedented extensive campaigning within the electorate by various party leaders, a stream of announcements of changes in government policy, and polling that suggested that there would be an extensive swing against the government. The outcome remained uncertain after counting
on the day of polling, and for a few days the lead after preferences of Ms
Short continued to be pared back, before gradually increasing in the final stages
to 255 votes among the 75,413 ballot-papers accepted as formal. Had the draw
for ballot-paper position not favoured Ms Short, it is likely that she would
have been defeated by a margin of the order of that by which she succeeded. Copyright
2001 Proportional Representation Society of National President: Bogey Musidlak 14 Strzelecki Cr. NARRABUNDAH 2604 National Secretary: Deane Crabb 11 Yapinga St. PLYMPTON 5038 Tel: (08) 8297 6441, (02) 6295 8137 Fax (03) 9589 1680 ggd@netspace.net.au Printed by Prestige Copying & Printing, 97 Pirie Street ADELAIDE SA 5000 |
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Newsletter of the Proportional Representation Society of
QN2001A March 2001 www.prsa.org.au
Constitutional Commission to Report on Victoria’s PR Bill
On 19th March 2001 the Premier of Victoria, Hon. Steve Bracks MLA, announced the establishment of a Constitutional Commission to investigate and make recommendations on reform of the Victorian Legislative Council.
Mr Bracks’ media release stated, ‘We made a commitment to Victorians that we
would reform the Upper House to ensure that it is accountable and that it
operates effectively as a genuine House of Review. … The establishment of this
Commission will give all Victorians a chance to have their say on whether the
Upper House is doing its job, and how it could be improved. … The Victorian Upper
House is unrepresentative and obstructionist - and its reform is long overdue.
... Upper Houses have been reformed in all Australian states except
Mr Bracks noted that the Victorian Opposition had also committed to the establishment of a constitutional commission in its charter with the Independents (see QN1999D) and expressed hope for a ‘bipartisan approach to the development of a much more democratic and accountable structure for Victoria's Legislative Council’.
Chairing the Commission is Professor the Hon. George Hampel QC, a Justice of
the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1983 to 2000, before his appointment to his
present position of Professor of Advocacy and Trial Practice at
Mr Hampel will be joined by the Hon. Ian Macphee AO and the Hon. Alan Hunt AM, who bring extensive parliamentary experience to the Commission.
A lawyer, Mr Macphee was the Liberal Member of the House of Representatives
for the
Also a lawyer, Mr Hunt was a Liberal Member of the
The Constitutional Commission is to invite submissions from the public, conduct hearings throughout the State, and report by 30th June 2002, at an estimated overall cost of $2 million.
Its terms of reference are focused on the role of the Upper House, as well as on fixed four-year terms. Specifically, the Commission is asked to "research, investigate, consult, report on and make recommendations" concerning the following issues:
"Whether the governance of
(a) Enable the Legislative Council to operate effectively
as a genuine House of Review. In considering this term, the
Commission is to consider:
(i) the responsiveness and responsibility of the Upper House to the
Victorian people;
(ii) the role of and accountability of the Upper House in relation to Executive
Government;
(iii) whether the Legislative Council should retain the power to reject
appropriation bills, and, if so, whether any or
what limitations should be placed on that power;
(iv) whether the Members of the Legislative Council should be elected one half at each election or should all be simultaneously elected;
(v) whether the Legislative Council should be elected on the basis of proportional representation and, if so whether this should be on the basis of multi-member electorates or on any other and what basis.
(b) Give effect to any and, if so, what of the following further measures:
(i) a fixed four-year term of Parliament.
(ii) the reduction, to any and what extent, of the total number of Members of either House of Parliament.
(iii) the removal or modification in any way of the nexus between the Houses, which is provided by sections 27 and 28 of the Constitution Act.
That nexus is comprised of the following elements:
- each Legislative Council province consists of four complete and contiguous Legislative Assembly districts;
- each Legislative Council province returns 2 members, elected on rotation, with a term equal to two Legislative Assembly terms; and
- requiring half of the Members of the Legislative Council to be elected at the same time as the Members of the Legislative Assembly."
In making the report or reports of its research and investigations, the Commission is to include any recommendations arising out of its inquiry as it considers appropriate, including recommendations regarding any proposed legislative or administrative changes that are necessary or desirable.
The PRSA’s Victoria-Tasmania Branch will
continue to promote quota-preferential methods of electing the Council, and is
planning to make a substantial submission to the Commission.
WA and Qld Assemblies: An Absolute Majority of Seats from Minority Vote
The defeat of the Court Government in
In both elections, a single party gained an absolute majority of Lower House seats with less than an absolute majority of first preference votes, and the percentage of seats won was about 50% greater than the percentage of first preference votes gained. The only other party to experience similar or greater seat leverage was the National Party in WA.
In each case, the overall summary of the percentages of first preference votes cast, the seats that could have been won under a Hare-Clark electoral system, and those actually won, is shown in the tables below.
2001 Western Australian Legislative Assembly Polls
|
Party or Group |
First Pref. Votes (%) |
Hare-Clark PR Seats (%) |
Single-Member District Seats (%) |
|
Australian Labor Party |
37.2 |
38.6 |
56.1 |
|
Australian Democrats |
2.6 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Greens |
7.3 |
10.5 |
0.0 |
|
All Other Candidates |
7.9 |
3.5 |
7.0 |
|
Liberal Party |
31.2 |
35.1 |
28.1 |
|
Christian Democrats |
1.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
One Nation Party |
9.6 |
7.0 |
0.0 |
|
National Party |
3.3 |
5.3 |
8.8 |
2001
|
Party or Group |
First Pref. Votes (%) |
Hare-Clark PR Seats (%) |
Single-Member District Seats (%) |
|
Australian Labor Party |
48.9 |
53.9 |
74.2 |
|
Australian Democrats |
0.3 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Greens |
2.5 |
2.3 |
0.0 |
|
All other candidates |
8.7 |
5.6 |
5.6 |
|
Liberal Party |
14.3 |
14.6 |
3.4 |
|
Country & City |
2.4 |
1.1 |
0.0 |
|
One Nation Party |
8.7 |
6.7 |
3.4 |
|
National Party |
14.2 |
15.7 |
13.5 |
Graph Showing Queensland Results
A detailed PR Analysis of the 2001 polls for the Legislative Assembly of both of those States, obtained by aggregating voting figures in groups of adjoining single-member electorates, now appears at www.prsa.org.au, the Web site of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia.
In Western Australia, in 79% of the Legislative Assembly seats (45 of 57), the first preference votes of an absolute majority of voters were for candidates that were not elected, whereas that applied to 47% of Queensland seats (42 of 89).
In
While the Australian Labor Party increased its share of first preferences by
just 1.4%, it achieved a net gain of 14 seats from the situation prior to the
election, losing only the seat of
Four Independents were elected and on four occasions, all in the South West Region, the last defeated candidate was from the One Nation Party.
In the 34-member Legislative Council based on regional electorates returning five or seven members through quota-preferential methods, Labor and the Greens lifted their first preferences by nearly 5% and 2.5% respectively, while the share lost by the Liberal and National Parties slightly exceeded 10% (One Nation’s vote was slightly less) and that of the Australian Democrats fell nearly 3%.
Compared with 1996 outcomes, Labor picked up two seats in the Legislative Council (both at the expense of Australian Democrats) as did the Greens (just edging out Liberals in both the Agricultural Region and Mining and Pastoral Region). The One Nation Party won three seats (one from Labor and two from the Nationals).
The Coalition held half of the seats in the previous Legislative Council
during the previous Parliament, all seats in which are contestable at each
General Election, unlike the other Upper Houses in
In
Both the National and Liberal leaders stepped down after the election at which their parties’ combined seats fell from 32 to 15, with the former announcing his retirement from politics on election night itself and prompting a Surfers Paradise by-election.
The Australian Labor Party vote was
particularly concentrated in the centre and suburbs of
Two Very Different Approaches to the Filling of Casual Vacancies
One-time ACT Chief Minister, Mrs Kate Carnell, resigned from the ACT Legislative Assembly on 13th December 2000. Of the 42 candidates in her seat of Molonglo not elected at the general elections of 1998, 10 had nominated by 12th January 2001, the end of the ten-day period following publication in The Canberra Times of a notice inviting applications from eligible candidates for her seat. With candidates’ names printed on ballot-papers in accordance with the Robson Rotation system, no consenting candidate could expect a decisive advantage in the countback from votes straight down party columns.
As Mrs Carnell had received nearly three quotas of first preference votes, more than 25,000 ballot-papers had to be re-examined. A total of 1,529 (6.0%) were either exhausted outright or had no next available preference for any of the 10 consenting candidates. The rest were distributed among two Liberal candidates (88.7%), one ALP (3.2%), four Independents (3.1%), one Australian Democrat (3.0%) and two ACT Greens (2.1%).
With over 54% of the ballot-papers that had not become exhausted, Jacqui Burke was known to be the successor on the second day of counting, having been placed next on nearly 5,000 ballot-papers more than her Liberal colleague, John Louttit. She was formally declared elected two days later, on 18th January 2001.
Apart from some speculation about the successor, and explanatory material about Hare-Clark recounts in articles, the only media excitement was occasioned by the 3,000 ballot-paper advantage that Mr Louttit held at the end of the first day of counting. There was no diversion at all of the business of government in that period.
In contrast, when the former Defence Minister, Hon John Moore, resigned from
the
A media throng focused for weeks on disputes in the hard-fought Liberal preselection contest, unprecedented extensive campaigning within the electorate by various party leaders, a stream of announcements of changes in government policy, and polling that suggested that there would be an extensive swing against the government.
The outcome remained uncertain after counting
on the day of polling, and for a few days the lead after preferences of Ms
Short continued to be pared back, before gradually increasing in the final
stages to 255 votes among the 75,413 ballot-papers accepted as formal. Had the
draw for ballot-paper position not favoured Ms Short, it is likely that she
would have been defeated by a margin of the order of that by which she
succeeded.
Copyright
2001 Proportional Representation Society of
National President: Bogey Musidlak 14 Strzelecki Cr. NARRABUNDAH 2604
National Secretary: Deane Crabb 11 Yapinga St. PLYMPTON 5038
Tel: (08) 8297 6441, (02) 6295 8137 Fax (03) 9589 1680 ggd@netspace.net.au
Printed by Prestige Copying & Printing, 97 Pirie Street ADELAIDE SA 5000