At the indicative poll of all NZ voters, on
possible changes to the
The percentages of the vote cast for the four possible electoral system
options offered in the second question were:
Supplementary Member 5.5% Single Transferable Vote 17.5% Mixed Member Proportional 70.3% Preferential Voting 6.6% Commentators
were initially surprised at the unexpectedly decisive nature of the result, but
they soon pointed out the low turnout of voters at what was officially, but
erroneously, called a Referendum. They suggested that the turnout,
which is expected to not exceed 55% even when absentee and other delayed votes
have been counted, would have lacked a very large number of the supporters of
the status quo. The supporters of the present single member system were
generally aware that the poll was not the final or binding poll - that poll
(which is to be a true referendum) is scheduled to coincide with the 1993
General Election polls.
The
1992 poll has shown that 46.5% of those on the electoral roll have voted for a
change from the present electoral system, and that the percentages of the roll
that have voted for the options above are, in the order they are listed above:
SM 3.0% STV 9.6% MMP 38.7% PV 3.6%
If
it is assumed that those that voted this year will collectively not have
changed their minds much by next year, the big remaining questions are how many
extra people will vote in 1993 and which way will they vote? That depends very
much on the way the question will be put. At this stage it appears that it will
be put as a choice between the present system and MMP, which was the option
that gained an absolute majority of votes in the second question in 1992
although, because of the low turnout, it failed to gain an absolute majority of
those entitled to vote. How many of the 61.3% of enrolled voters that failed to
support MMP in 1992 will do so in 1993?
The
cases for the options that were circulated to all voters at the Government's
expense were prepared by the Electoral Referendum Panel, chaired by the Chief Ombudsman,and not by proponents of
the particular option involved. A newspaper article putting the case for STV is
shown on Page 4. A letter from the PRSA National President championing STV and
pointing out the main disadvantages of MMP was published in several NZ daily
papers.
The
possibility has been mentioned that between now and the 1993 poll the NZ
Government might amend the existing legislation to add a further question to
the poll regarding the possible creation of an Upper House. In refining the
1993 poll it would be fairer if the Government were to have two questions on
the electoral system rather than the single question presently envisaged. The
first question could be binding as to whether or not the voter wanted to retain
the present electoral system. The second question could be binding as to
whether the new electoral system (assuming the first question makes a change
mandatory) would be MMP or STV. The need for that fairness derives from the
very low turnout for the 1992 indicative poll. At that poll the two most
strongly supported options were MMP and STV, which together gained the support
of 48.4% of the enrolled voters. This would make the 1993 poll a true runoff
poll - a common mechanism in countries (
Supporters
of MMP that opposed the suggestion above would have to be very blind to the
superiority of STV over the status quo, or very fearful that STV might be
preferred to MMP. If NZ parliamentarians, who are said to be predominantly in favour of the present electoral system, were to find that
MMP supporters found reasons to oppose the concept of that second run-off question,
they might even warm to the idea.
A
major, high quality book on
Mr
Terry Newman, the Parliamentary Librarian, wrote the book, and Mr Neil Robson,
former Tasmanian Electoral Minister and
A
feature of the launching, which was a measure of the pride Tasmanians have in
their world-leading electoral system, was the attendance of the Premier of
Tasmania, the Hon. Ray Groom MHA (Liberal), together with all six surviving
former premiers of
Pleasingly
the book reproduces material from three separate PRSA publications and makes
frequent mention of the late Mr J.F.H. Wright's book, Mirror of the Nation's Mind ($7 post free from PRSA).
The
320-page softcover Hare-Clark book is available by
writing to the Tasmanian Parliamentary Library, Parliament House, HOBART TAS 7000,
enclosing a cheque or money order for $39.95
(includes postage) payable to Tasmanian Parliamentary Library.
The
elections on 19th September 1992 for
A
PR analysis provided by our Queensland Branch involved dividing the State into
twelve 7-member districts and one 5-member district. The approximate results at
the time of going to press are summarized below:
PERCENTAGES ALP OTHER LIB NAT 1ST. PREFERENCE 49.33 6.50 20.53 23.64VOTES HARE-CLARK 52.8 1.1 21.4 24.7SEATS SINGLE-MEMBER 60.7 0.0 10.1 29.2SEATS
The
success of the Nationals reflects the geographical concentration of their
supporters. The Liberals continue to suffer from a dispersed vote. Although
they received nearly as high a vote as the Nationals they received only a third
the number of seats. One would think that the Queensland Liberal Party might
join the Tasmanian and ACT Liberal Party Divisions and begin to see some merit
in the Hare-Clark electoral system.
The
ALP narrowly missed an absolute majority of first preference votes overall, but
Hare-Clark would give it an adequate Parliamentary majority, as the opposition
was so fragmented. As in the past,
Late
last year an important body, the Constitutional Centenary Foundation, was
established, with the former Governor-General and High Court Justice, Sir Ninian Stephen, as Chairman of an incorporated association
to encourage
"Australians
to consider whether some of the legal and government institutions that have
evolved over the past 90 years can be improved or made more relevant to the
approaching 21st Century."
The
first issue of Constitutional Centenary, the newsletter of the Foundation,
stated that the CCF had commissioned articles on eight different aspects of
Parliament, one of which was Electoral Systems; that later in 1992 it
would publish a comprehensive Issues Paper based on these articles; that
it would then hold a series of seminars around Australia at which the topic
can be fully discussed; and that the Foundation is keen to receive
submissions - both verbal and oral - from interested members of the public on
this topic. Applications for membership of the CCF ($25 per year) should
be made to CCF,
The
CCF has attracted comment from a former senator, Mr John Stone, as a spokesman
for the recently established Samuel Griffith Society, which seeks to defend the
present Constitution from unwise, hasty, or unnecessary changes. Mr Stone (See Leave
No Stone Unturned - QN58 June 1990) said that the CCF appeared to be a
stalking horse for republican and other movements that were seeking
radical changes. Although such comments do not promise much in the way of
reform in the electoral area, we might hope that the SGS will defend the
important provisions in Sections 7 and 24 that require that MPs be directly
chosen by the people, if they were to be threatened. Don't be complacent -
Mr
Deane Crabb, Secretary of the PRSA's SA Branch, has obtained the SA Hansard of 26th May 1992 in which 3 full pages of small
print record the 26 minutes of proceedings, in the art deco interior of SA's
Legislative Council Chamber, of a Joint Sitting involving 17 MLCs, 34 MLAs and,
among other Parliamentary officials, the Clerk of each House.
That
expenditure of time and money and unnecessary use of the force and dignity of
Parliament was required of
Professor
Peter Singer, of
After
considering the PRSA's advice, Professor Singer has included in the draft
constitution a clause that requires that votes be counted by the
quota-preferential method of proportional representation, in accordance with
the Proportional Representation Manual of the Proportional Representation
Society of Australia. The meeting to adopt the constitution is to be in the
©1992 PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA National President: Geoffrey Goode18 Anita Street National Secretary: John Alexander5 Bray Street Telephone: (03) 589 1802; (02) 960 2193Facsimile: (03) 589 1802 Printed by PINK PANTHER INSTANT PRINTING12 Pirie Street ADELAIDE THE
CASE FOR QUOTA-PREFERENTIAL PR (SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE) The
Press,