Weekend West

Saturday 6/2/2016
Page: 92
Section: General News
Region: Perth
Type: Capital City Daily
Size: 507.00 sq.cms.
Frequency: -----S-

Brief: DPLAUTO2
Page 1 of 2

Senate voting system must be fixed to eliminate

manipulation, pop-up parties

Gary Gray

eports suggesting
that the
Government is now
ready to consider
Senate voting
reform are good
news.
The system needs to be fixed.
Fixing the Senate voting
system is as important as
one-vote, one-value and it is as
important as the franchise.
Senators are elected for long
terms and they represent whole
States or Territories. Their
election is guided by principles
enunciated in the Constitution:
Section 7 of the Constitution
demands that our senators be
chosen directly by the people so
Senate reform is about
upholding the integrity of the
Constitution. In the Senate,

voters can cast their votes in

one of two ways:
Above the line by putting 1
in the box of the party or group
of their choice. Preferences are
then distributed through voting
tickets registered by parties
with the Australian Electoral
Commission.
Alternatively, votes can be
below the line, by numbering
every square on the ballot
paper in order of preference.
Few voters choose the second
option its more complex and
an error can void the whole
ballot. Consequently, 96.5 per
cent of voters in 2013 voted
above the line in the Senate.
This system was introduced
over 30 years ago to reduce
informal voting. Unfortunately
it is now being manipulated and
has begun to create unintended

outcomes.
In the past few years, at both
a State and Federal level,
pop-up parties designed to
attract a small number of
primary votes have
manipulated the system
through preference harvesting
and vote transfers to produce
end results that do not reflect
the wishes of voters.
This is not to cast aspersions
on the integrity or capacity of
the current independent and
minor-party senators. While I
may not always agree with
their positions, it is clear that
they are each engaging
diligently in the policy process
and each has been properly
elected under the current rules.
My view is that the rules need
to be changed.
A fundamental principle of
voting systems is that a voter
should actually intend to vote
for the candidate or party with
whom their vote finally rests.
Because of the ability to
manipulate the current system,
the present Senate voting
process now fails this test.
Federal Parliaments
independent joint standing
committee on electoral matters
found that many micro-parties
are manipulating the system to
harvest and direct preferences
to each other.
The result is that hundreds of
thousands of votes cascade to
parties that the voter would not
deliberately vote for.
The current Senate electoral
process allowed a candidate
with only 0.51 per cent of the
formal votes to get elected
ahead of a candidate with 11.56
per cent of the votes.
This was a result in the 2013
Senate election, where a Senate

seat was won and lost with just

this primary vote. The winning
party got only 17,122 of the
3,499,438 votes cast. Victorian
Liberal senator Helen Kroger
received 389,745 votes and failed
to get elected.
If the 2013 WA Senate result
had been upheld, the Sports
Party on 2974 votes (0.23 per
cent) would have defeated
Labor senator Louise Pratt on
160,141 votes (12.22 per cent).
Fortunately, there is a clear
and widely supported way out
of the current dysfunctional
mess.
In May 2014, the joint
standing committee on
electoral matters in a
unanimous and multiparty
report recommended that the
system of registering political
parties be rigorous; group
voting tickets be abolished; and
a new system of optional
preferential voting be
introduced.
These recommendations
would give the power to allocate
preferences back to voters and
stop opaque preference swaps
between parties. More
specifically, under the
recommended optional
preferential voting system,
voters would be able to
expressly preference parties or
candidate groups above the
line, rather than having their
preferences distributed for
them under a registered group
voting ticket.
The changes recommended
by the report received strong
support last year. Antony
Green of the ABC supported
them because they significantly
strengthen our democratic
process and restore
transparency.

Ref: 538487944

Weekend West
Saturday 6/2/2016
Page: 92
Section: General News
Region: Perth
Type: Capital City Daily
Size: 507.00 sq.cms.
Frequency: -----S-

These changes will mean

voter intention is reflected in a
democratic electoral outcome.
They will give voters control
over whom they do and do not
vote for.
These reforms are not
intended to stifle or prevent the
formation of new parties. They
simply mean that political
parties, including my own, will
have to convince the public
rather than backroom
deal-makers that they deserve
their votes.
But first we have to convince
the Government to act now and
to legislate consistent with the
unanimous recommendations
of the independent multiparty
inquiry.
The Government should act
now without delay and before
the next election.

Brief: DPLAUTO2
Page 2 of 2

Easier: In 2013, 96.5 per cent of voters chose above the line .

.................................................................................

Gary Gray is the member for Brand.

These are the views of the
member for Brand and not
necessarily those of the ALP

There is a clear
way out of the
current mess.

Ref: 538487944