LIBERAL STATE COUNCIL POLICY FORUM.

PROPOSED ELECTORAL REFORM.

BACKGROUND

As one who developed and managed a large Liberal supporters page Liberal National Chat Page https://www.facebook.com/LibNatChatPage it gave me a unique insight to the general publics thoughts of electoral processes. The September 7 2013 appeared to highlight areas where electoral reform could be considered.

ISSUES
1. PREFERENCES Preferential voting was introduced to Australia in 1918. The Federal Senate and some states allow for Group voting (simultaneous registration of party-listed candidates and party-determined orders of voting preference, known as 'group voting tickets) An estimated 95% of all votes (Senate) are cast above the line. (2) Effectively changing the control of the vote to another party. As the Electoral authority automatically allocates preferences (votes) in the already determined order via Group voting. Candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated but their votes get reallocated. When a voter votes above the line it reflects their acceptance of their preferred party/ candidates allocation of preferences. The public showed a lack of knowledge ona) How the preference system worked. b) Understanding if the candidate they voted for and didnt succeed where their preferences were distributed and how.

2. THE SENATE
Many issues were highlighted, the main one being a Victorian was elected to the Senate with less than 1% of the primary vote.

Does this truly represent the voters wishes when preferences shifted from party to party? Mr Muir is a case in point receiving less than 1% of the primary vote but was elected on preferences. Does this example really represent the will of the people voting? Farce in that opaque preference deals between candidates and parties few voters have ever heard of, have distorted the will of the electorate and engineered the election of some strange bedfellows. (3) Effectively if micro parties refused to have preference deals with major parties and only deals amongst other minor parties again well see micro parties winning elections with a low primary vote.

SUGGESTIONS
1. Consider making preferences voting optional. a) By doing so this helps avoid micro parties who do not share ideologies/policies as we saw in 2013 smaller parties received preferences form other parties who at times could be considered idealogical opposites. b) This can also be considered to tighten up true vote campaigning as opposed to campaigning for preference deals. (A) An alternate is to introduce Partial Optional Preferencing below the line. (i)This is already in place in Tasmanias lower house and Victorias upper house. (5) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Voters then only have to vote for as many candidates as there are positions to be filled for your vote to be formal. (6) This effectively would generate ease and less confusion by voters. It would also reduce micro parties becoming elected with a small primary vote. It may also assist non genuine candidates standing in order to direct preference deals to the party they truly support. (Vote stacking using preferences)

4. Equalise preferential voting for both State and Federal elections throughout the country. a) Less confusion for people around the country b) Reduces mistakes made at different elections with differing requirements.

5. Reduce the number of parties above the line could be effective bya) Allowing the true intentions of the voter to be represented not preference deals the average voter may not know about. 6. With the evident increase of micro parties appearing on ballot papers it enhanced the ability of a candidate who secured less than 1 % of the vote to be elected via multiple preference deals. (Often amongst other minor parties). Consider micro parties being required pre elections to(A) Produce policies and /or costings on more than a single platform. (B) Produce policies of major issues, for example Health, Education, Immigration, Economics. (i) By doing this parties demonstrated their lesser platforms to the public. (ii) The public become more informed about micro parties. (iii) Allows the public to become more informed about the voting process and make informed decisions. (iv) Increases the publics awareness of voting preferences distribution. (C) By setting a bench mark of primary votes required to accept preferences we reduce the impact of the voters original voting intentions being diluted to parties that dont support their original candidates philosophies.

(D) Implementing a limit to preference sharing by parties/ candidates that fail to gain a set minimum or primary votes and /or limit those with less percentage of the primary votes to a pre set number of preference shares if their candidate is excluded during count rounds. (E) Consider other threshold quotas a minor party/ candidate must achieve to win the election.

6. Requiring candidates to receive 4% of the primary vote prior to accepting preference deals. This benchmark is suggested based on the Australian Electoral Commissions (AEC) guidelines.

(4)

Preferential voting is employed in elections for the House of Representatives and all State lower houses in Australia, apart from the Tasmanian House of Assembly and the A.C.T. Legislative Assembly. (1)

(1)

(1)

POLITICAL PARTY NAMES. The 2013 Federal election clearly showed voters mistakes especially on the Senate paper regarding political party names. The main complaints were confusion between the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Liberal Party of Australia. |This was worsened in some states with the LDP being allocated on the Senate ballot paper an earlier position to the Liberal Party. In NSW an LDP Senator drew the first column of the Senate ballot paper. Psycholigcally voters eyes were drawn to the first column read Liberal and cast their vote.

. As a consequence the voters read Liberal (of the LDP) due to their earlier prominence on the ballot paper and voted for them when their real intention was Liberal Party. And again we saw a party securing a Senate position largely due to voter confusion. The actual percentage of confusion amongst voters has yet to be established.

REFERENCES.
1. http://australianpolitics.com/voting/electoral-system/preferential-voting 2. http://www.eca.gov.au/index.htm 3.http://www.smh.com.au/comment/somewhere-along-the-line-senate-voting-went-awry-20130909-2tg96.html 4.AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/public_funding/election-funding.htm 5. http://theconversation.com/explainer-how-does-the-senate-voting-system-work-17768 6.http://theconversation.com/explainer-how-does-the-senate-voting-system-work-17768