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Ballot Paper
Election of 7 Members
A FAMILY FIRST
B AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY
C DAYLIGHT SAVING PARTY
2021
D SOCIALIST ALLIANCE
East Metropolitan Region
E MICRO BUSINESS PARTY
F LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY
G THE GREENS
H LIBERAL PARTY
UNGROUPED
Frank PANGALLO
Thomas FRENCH
Nancy-Louise SCHERGER
Joanne ALLEN
Anthony SEDDON
David PINKERTON
Alison XAMON
Donna FARAGHER
Luciano LOMBARDO
Katy GALLAGHER
Alvin HOPPER
Richard MULCAHY
Angus LABURN
David McALARY
Scott LUDLAM
Alyssa HAYDEN
Phil THOMPSON
Hannah BEAZLEY
Owen SADDLER
Ben O’NEILL
Kim EVANS
Dylan COPELAND
Helen MORTON
Greg TANNAHILL
Simon CORBELL
Norvan VOGT
David CUMBERS
Samantha JENKINSON
Zed SESELJA
Tony FARRELL
David MATHEWS
Darren O’NEIL
Ziggy FATNOWNA
Victoria JACKSON
Kelly SHAY
Stuart GREEN
Ian JAMES
Tim WALTON
Hugh NGUYEN
Stephen ROWLAND
Gregg BOLAND
Belinda BARNIER
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Helen CROSS INDEPENDENT
Kerri TARANTO INDEPENDENT
INDEPENDENT
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14 November 2017
Malcolm Mackerras
Readers of this page should first read the reverse page on my Senate reform, also dated 14 November 2017. Having given up hope that there will be any reform in the 45th Parliament I now propose that the 46th (federal) Parliament would enact my reform, combined with an increase in the size of the House of Representatives from 151 to 175.That would increase the size of the Senate from 76 to 88, there being 14 senators for each state and two for each territory. Such an increase would mean district magnitude for a half-Senate election would be seven. That is why the numbering required for a formal vote would be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Thus, for Western Australian voters there would be consistency between Senate and Legislative Council numbering requirements. Furthermore there would also be consistency in the numbering requirements between the House of Representatives and the WA Legislative Assembly.
I am proposing that there be five regions with the names of the present three metropolitan regions to remain the same. There would be two in the country, called “Northern Western Australia” and “Southern Western Australia”. There would be an allowance in favour of the country. For starters they would need to include some outer metropolitan suburbs so growth would be expected to be greater than in the metropolitan regions. Second, there would continue to be the “large district allowance” which is a feature of the present system.
Readers of this page would be aware that at present there are six regions for the election of members of the WA Legislative Council. Each elects six members. Consequently there are 36 members and district magnitude is six. “District magnitude” is psephological jargon which means the number being elected. The six regions treat Metropolitan and Country as deserving of equal numbers which actually means a significant rural malapportionment. The disadvantaged electors are in North Metropolitan, South Metropolitan and East Metropolitan. The advantaged electors are in Agricultural, Mining and Pastoral, and South West. My mock ballot paper is for seven members for the East Metropolitan Region at the next scheduled election in March 2021.
Since that was written there has been a change in South Australia as a result of which I now raise its mark to 51 per cent. So the federal Senate, especially, and the WA Legislative Council are the two remaining cases of fail marks. The major difference is that the WA Constitution commands that EVERY member of BOTH houses be directly chosen by the people. Consequently, whereas Senate casual vacancies are filled by party machine appointment, in WA they are filled by counting again the votes of the previous general election as though the vacating member had not been a candidate and her/his preferences are distributed accordingly.
Of those seven PR systems I give a high distinction mark to Tasmania’s Hare-Clark, a distinction mark to the ACT variant of Hare-Clark, a credit mark to the Victorian Legislative Council system and a pass mark to the NSW Legislative Council system. I fail the other three but even there I feel the need to give a mark. Consequently, I give 45 per cent to the Western Australian Legislative Council system, 40 per cent to the South Australian Legislative Council system and 30 per cent to the Senate system.
On page 20 of my 2016-17 submission to the federal Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters I wrote as under. My submission is 139 and was posted on Friday 17 February 2017. After noting that there are seven parliamentary proportional representation systems I wrote:
BALLOT PAPER FOR THE ELECTION OF 7 MEMBERS FOR EACH REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA