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

2011-08-07

 

Anglican Synods’ Electoral Systems

 

Click on a blue hyperlink of interest.

 

The Synod of the Diocese of Melbourne is the only Australian Synod that elects its Committees – including its Diocesan Council – using a quota-preferential proportional representation system (Single Transferable Vote or STV) to count the votes, similar to Tasmania’s Hare-Clark system.

 

The General Synod of the Church of England in Britain has used STV PR since 1920, but the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia still uses the unsound multiple first-past-the-post system for group elections (See Chapter 9 Rule III), where a minority bloc of voters can succeed in electing all the candidates elected.

 

The synods of the 22 other dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia still use that unsound multiple first-past-the-post electoral system, which was abandoned for Senate elections in 1917, because of the defects above.

 

The Proportional Representation Society of Australia assisted the Melbourne Synod when it deliberated on PR, as is recorded in the following articles in the PRSA newsletter, Quota Notes.

 

December 1989

 

Melbourne Synod Reviews its “Points System” in response to concerns over its fairness

December 1989

 

Diocese of Melbourne’s Regulation of Elections Act 1980, including its old “Points” electoral system, as at 1989

June 1991

 

Melbourne Synod Initiates PR Bill to replace its “Points System”

September 1991

 

Assistance of Mr Colin Ball, former Chief Electoral Officer for Tasmania, re method of filling casual vacancies

December 1991

 

Melbourne Synod Adopts a PR Electoral System to replace its “Points System”

October 1992

 

Diocese of Melbourne’s Regulation of Elections Act 1980, including its new PR electoral system, as at 1992

 

December 2003

Synod’s Annual Review Led to Review of PR Law:  The Annual Review required by Section 33 of the Regulation of Elections Act 1980 found PR should continue, as a 2010 ballot-paper shows. See Act on diocesan website.

 

 

See other past assistance that the PRSA has given the Melbourne Synod with its elections.

 

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