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QUOTA Newsletter
of the Proportional Representation
Society of
QN51
September 1988
www.prsa.org.au ·
Opposition &
ADs Champion Quota-Preferential for
A.C.T. ·
Opposition
& ADs Champion Quota-Preferential
for Victoria ·
PRSA Ballot
on Constitution Alteration (Fair
Elections) Bill 1988 ·
New Zealand
Electoral Reform Opposition & ADs
Champion Quota-Preferential for A.C.T.
Showing sound
consistency, the same political
parties that achieved the now
accepted replacement of South
Australia's former rigid
indirect Party
List system are working
for the direct
quota-preferential system of PR
as the proper system for A.C.T.
self-government. In 1978
NSW was saved from a Party
List system for its
Upper House when the
PRSA urged the then
Liberal opposition to
oppose it at the necessary
referendum. They agreed,
with the Premier, Mr Wran,
settling for the present
quota-preferential system,
thereby obtaining
bipartisan support for his
successful referendum. In
the light of this history,
a more durable system
might be obtained for the
A.C.T. if the indirect "d'Hondt"
Party List
system proposed by the departed
Minister, Mr Punch, were
reconsidered by his more
experienced successor, Mr Clyde
Holding. A.C.T.
Senator Bob McMullan,
writing in a Canberra
Times article (15
SEP), has called for "compromise",
and has claimed that "full
Senate-style PR is
totally unsuitable
for lower or
governing
Houses of
Parliament, as
it has a history of producing
unstable government. " That claim is
utterly contradicted by
Australia's practical
experience. The Tasmanian Lower
House has had the world's
longest continuous use of
quota-preferential PR. Other
State Lower Houses have had far
greater percentages of
independents than Tasmania's.
Unlike the Commonwealth and the
mainland States, Tasmania has
had a two-party system without
coalitions. It has had a very
few, very brief periods when a
Government needed an independent
MP's support, but that has also
happened in Victoria and South
Australia. Senator
McMullan stated
that the "consolidated
d'Hondt" system
includes a modification
"to ensure
that all votes had full
effect" thus
giving preferential voting.
He wrote, "That is, a
further Labor Party compromise!" The Government's
information to the PRSA to date has
shown that this "preferential
voting" does not provide transferable
votes, but extends only to
graciously allowing voters to mark
preferences that will decide the
order of election of candidates
within the single Party List voted
for. The indirect
d'Hondt system would not have
been consistent with the
failed "Fair
Elections" Constitution
proposal. The ALP A Canberra Times
article by the AD's Spokesperson, Senator
Jean Jenkins, has proposed a Hare-Clark
approach including Robson Rotation
of names on ballot-papers. The ADs and
Opposition need our members'
encouragement, as an A.C.T. Party List
system would be a very bad example for
other governments in Australia.
Opposition
& ADs Champion Quota-Preferential
for Victoria
In Victoria, where 1st
October is election day, the ALP is
proposing PR for the Upper House.
Victoria is Australia's only
bicameral parliament that does not
have PR elections for either House. The Australian Democrats
have voted to recommend preferences
against the Liberals and Nationals as
they chose to reject in the Upper House,
which they control, a recently submitted
Bill for PR. The ADs will focus their
resources on key marginal seats - a
tactic to which single member electorate
systems are particularly vulnerable. The Annual General
Meeting of the PRSA's Victorian Branch
on 28th September will be addressed by
Hon. David White, Deputy Government
Leader in the Legislative Council. The
Branch will discuss with him objections
to aspects of the recent PR Bill such as
the indirect and discriminatory
proposals for filling casual vacancies,
the Senate-style Group Voting tickets,
the order of candidates on the
ballot-paper being decided by the
parties, and the requirement that for a
formal vote more preferences than the
number of vacancies need be marked. PRSA
Ballot on Constitution Alteration
(Fair Elections) Bill 1988
At the August ballot of PRSA
members on this Bill, 40 voters
(70%) agreed to the Society's supporting
the Bill
and 17 (30%) opposed that. Letters by
the National President explaining the
Society's support for the Bill were then
sent to newspapers in all States and
were published in the Melbourne Herald
and the Adelaide Advertiser.
A UK law journal
has stated that in October 1987 the NZ
Government announced, for November 1989,
referendums on a four year parliamentary
term (familiar?) and "Proportional
Representation". We have not heard of
any decision yet on whether the partly
indirect "Mixed Member Proportional"
system is
to be the only alternative to the
present system or whether voters will be
able to choose the entirely direct
quota-preferential system. © 1988 Proportional
Representation Society of National President: Geoffrey Goode National Secretary: Andrew Gunter 5 Wheatland Road MALVERN VIC 3144 Tel: (03) 9509 1514 info@prsa.org.au Regd.
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