DOCSLIB.ORG

The New Senate Voting System and the 2016 Election

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The New Senate Voting System and the 2016 Election RESEARCH PAPER SERIES, 2017–18 25 JANUARY 2018 The new Senate voting system and the 2016 election Dr Damon Muller Politics and Public Administration Section Executive summary • In 2016 the Senate voting system was changed to remove the use of group voting tickets; and to require voters to allocate six or more preferences above the line or twelve or more below the line on the ballot paper. The 2016 federal election—a double dissolution election—was the first to be conducted under the new system. • The change resulted from recommendations from an inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters into the 2013 federal election, largely in response to the number of candidates being elected to the Senate from small and unknown parties on very low first preference votes. However, the changes were only legislated late in the parliamentary term, not long before the double dissolution election was held. • A High Court challenge was launched almost immediately in response to the changes to the Senate voting system; however, the Court rapidly and comprehensively dismissed the case. • When it was introduced, the new Senate voting system was criticised for a number of perceived problems, including that most voters would continue to vote 1 above the line; that the informality rate would be high; that many more votes would exhaust and not be counted; and that small parties would have no chance of election. • None of these anticipated problems presented in the course of the 2016 election. Voters quickly adapted to the new system; informal voting rose only a small amount; and that the Australian Electoral Commission was able to implement the new system and count the votes with no major issues eventuating. • The changes did not arrest the trend of fewer voters giving their first preferences to the major political parties in the Senate election. However, many of those who gave their first preference to minor parties also preferenced one of the major parties with their second and third preferences. While the 2016 Senate election resulted in a record crossbench, much of this is attributable to the reduced quota due to the double dissolution. Yet even under a normal half-Senate election, a number of minor party Senators would have been elected. • Analysis shows that Australian voters’ use of above-the-line Senate preferences was complex; was not always along party lines; and, in many cases, was not consistent with the first preference party’s how-to-vote recommendations. ISSN 2203-5249 Contents Executive summary ..................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 4 A brief history of Senate electoral system reform ......................................... 4 The single transferable vote system ................................................................... 4 Introduction of group voting tickets in 1983 ...................................................... 4 The vote count in Senate elections and the 2016 reforms ................................ 5 Disproportionate Senate election results ........................................................ 6 The inquiry into the 2013 Senate election ....................................................... 7 Legislating the changes .................................................................................... 8 The High Court challenge ............................................................................. 9 How the new Senate voting system works................................................... 10 How well did it work at the 2016 election? .................................................. 11 Above-the-line voting ....................................................................................... 12 Use of preferences ........................................................................................... 13 Vote exhaustion ................................................................................................ 14 Informal votes .................................................................................................. 15 Senate composition and smaller parties .......................................................... 17 Proportionality.................................................................................................. 21 Public response to the changes ........................................................................ 24 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 24 Appendix A: Analysis of voter Senate preference choice .............................. 25 Preferencing of established parties .................................................................. 25 Graphic analysis of above-the-line preference flows, state by state ............... 26 New South Wales ........................................................................................... 26 Victoria ........................................................................................................... 28 Queensland .................................................................................................... 30 South Australia ............................................................................................... 32 Western Australia ........................................................................................... 34 Tasmania ........................................................................................................ 36 Appendix B: Political party abbreviations .................................................... 38 Figures Figure 1: Senate ballot paper structure .............................................................. 10 Figure 2: How above the line preferences are counted on the Senate ballot paper ................................................................................................................... 11 Figure 3: Above-the-line voting at Senate elections, 1990–2016....................... 12 Figure 4: Unique parties contesting recent federal elections ............................ 20 Figure 5: Candidates and groups on the NSW Senate ballot paper in recent elections.............................................................................................................. 21 Figure 6: Proportion of votes and seats won in the Senate by party/group ...... 21 The new Senate voting system and the 2016 election 2 Figure 7: Combined share of seats and votes of the ALP and Coalition, 1987– 2016 .................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 8: Party share of first preference Senate vote, 1987–2016 ..................... 23 Figure 9: Share of Senate seats won, 1987–2016 ............................................... 23 Tables Table 1: Use of above- and below-the-line voting by state ................................ 13 Table 2: Use of preferences above the line as a proportion of votes above the line ...................................................................................................................... 13 Table 3: Senate ballot paper informality in 2016 compared to 2013, percentage of total vote ........................................................................................................ 16 Table 4: Types of Senate ballot paper informality in 2016 ................................. 17 Table 5: Percentage of first preference Senate vote by party/group ................. 18 Table 6: Senators elected by party under the statutory recount ....................... 18 All hyperlinks in this paper were correct as at January 2018. The new Senate voting system and the 2016 election 3 Introduction In 2016, following a long and sometimes acrimonious debate in the Senate, the largest reform to Australia’s federal voting system in more than three decades became law. Despite the haste with which it was introduced and passed through the Parliament, the reform was a response to address flaws in the Senate voting system that became apparent over the previous decade and had been the subject of considerable deliberation. This research paper outlines the recent history of Senate electoral reform in federal elections, including examining the reasons for the most recent changes to the Senate voting system. It describes how the new system works, and analyses the characteristics of its operation in the 2016 federal election before exploring how well it worked in practice. It concludes that Australian voters adapted well to the additional complexity of the new ballot paper; that the election results were generally more proportional in respect to the vote; and that—so far, at least—the reform appears to have been successful in terms of aims and implementation. A brief history of Senate electoral system reform The 2013 Senate election was notable both for the overturned result in Western Australia (WA) due to lost ballot papers, and for the number of previously unknown candidates from small parties who were elected on very small primary votes. Both of these issues received considerable attention from the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) in its inquiry into the 2013 federal election. In 2016, it was the latter issue that resulted in the most significant change to Australian federal elections in more than 30 years. The single transferable vote system Since 1949, the Senate has used an electoral system known as proportional representation
Load more

Recommended publications
  • List of Organizations Invited to the National
    List of organizations invited to the national survey (Re- imagining Quality of Life project) 10 Deserts Project 3000acres 350.org Australia 44 Playbook 8 Ways AADII (Agency for Advanced Development of Integrative Intelligence) Ability Made Inc Aboriginal Medical Service Cooperative Ltd Redfern ACOSS ACTCOSS Action Foresight ActionAid Addison Road Community Garden Aid Watch Aldinga Arts Eco Village Alternative Futures Research Network Alternatives to Violence Project Western Australia AlterQuest Altus Impact Amnesty International Australia Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation Angelica Organic Farm Anglicare Southern Queensland ANTaR Victoria Anthropos Consulting Artabana Australia Ashurst Assembled Threads Atwea College AUDAcities AusBiotech Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law (AABHL) Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility Australia 21 Australia I-Kuan Tao Headquarters Inc Australia ReMADE Australian (Nationwide) I-Kuan Tao Headquarters Inc Australian Association for Restorative Justice Australian Centre on Quality of Life (ACQoL) Australian Circular Economy Hub Australian Citizens Party Australian Communist Party Australian Communities Foundation Australian Conservation Foundation Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Australian Earth Laws Alliance Australian Ethical 1 Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance Page © NENA – UON AFRHub – 2021 - https://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/centre/alternative-futures-regional- prospects/the-well-living-lab/reimagining-quality-of-life-survey-research Australian Food Sovereignty
    [Show full text]
  • Which Political Parties Are Standing up for Animals?
    Which political parties are standing up for animals? Has a formal animal Supports Independent Supports end to welfare policy? Office of Animal Welfare? live export? Australian Labor Party (ALP) YES YES1 NO Coalition (Liberal Party & National Party) NO2 NO NO The Australian Greens YES YES YES Animal Justice Party (AJP) YES YES YES Australian Sex Party YES YES YES Pirate Party Australia YES YES NO3 Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party YES No policy YES Sustainable Australia YES No policy YES Australian Democrats YES No policy No policy 1Labor recently announced it would establish an Independent Office of Animal Welfare if elected, however its structure is still unclear. Benefits for animals would depend on how the policy was executed and whether the Office is independent of the Department of Agriculture in its operations and decision-making.. Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) NO No policy NO4 2The Coalition has no formal animal welfare policy, but since first publication of this table they have announced a plan to ban the sale of new cosmetics tested on animals. Australian Independents Party NO No policy No policy 3Pirate Party Australia policy is to “Enact a package of reforms to transform and improve the live exports industry”, including “Provid[ing] assistance for willing live animal exporters to shift to chilled/frozen meat exports.” Family First NO5 No policy No policy 4Nick Xenophon Team’s policy on live export is ‘It is important that strict controls are placed on live animal exports to ensure animals are treated in accordance with Australian animal welfare standards. However, our preference is to have Democratic Labour Party (DLP) NO No policy No policy Australian processing and the exporting of chilled meat.’ 5Family First’s Senator Bob Day’s position policy on ‘Animal Protection’ supports Senator Chris Back’s Federal ‘ag-gag’ Bill, which could result in fines or imprisonment for animal advocates who publish in-depth evidence of animal cruelty The WikiLeaks Party NO No policy No policy from factory farms.
    [Show full text]
  • HAP201022 Dr Isaac Golden
    HAP201022pod Thu, 10/22 9:47PM 1:07:28 SUMMARY KEYWORDS people, australia, molly, talking, doctors, masks, homeopathy, options, health, step, evidence, vaccine, test, homeopathic, disease, important, mike, real, treating, absolutely SPEAKERS Molly Knight, Dr Isaac Golden, Mike Stacey M Mike Stacey 00:13 Welcome to HAP News, the podcast of the latest news from Health Australia Party. Follow us through the News page on our website at www Health Australia party.com.au for more information. Tonight's episode is a chat that Molly had with one of our co founders, Dr. Isaac golden. And he is outlining a roadmap out of the COVID or any other type of similar crisis. Let's listen to Molly and Isaac. M Molly Knight 00:57 Hello, everyone. Welcome to our talk tonight on Health Australia Party. Facebook Live. Thank you for joining us on Molly. Tonight's we'll be talking to Dr. Isaac golden. Isaac is a homeopath in Victoria. So he's right in the midst of everything that's been going on with all the lockdowns and the dreadful conditions that our friends down there have had to endure for so long. And Isaac was the co founder of the Health Australia Party back in 2015. And I'd like to start off tonight by welcoming Isaac. Welcome, D Dr Isaac Golden 01:34 Isaac, thank you for joining Molly. It's lovely to be with you. Your reputation precedes you. Oh, good. Absolutely. Molly Knight 01:45 HAP201022pod Page 1 of 21 Transcribed by https://otter.ai M Molly Knight 01:45 I wanted to kick off tonight, because we're going to have a really interesting talk about, Well, a lot of things, a lot of things to do with what's going on right now.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Political Writings 2009-10
    Parliament of Australia Department of Parliamentary Services Parliamentary Library Information, analysis and advice for the Parliament BIBLIOGRAPHY www.aph.gov.au/library Selected Australian political writings 2009‐10 Contents Biographies ............................................................................................................................. 2 Elections, electorate boundaries and electoral systems ......................................................... 3 Federalism .............................................................................................................................. 6 Human rights ........................................................................................................................... 6 Liberalism and neoliberalism .................................................................................................. 6 Members of Parliament and their staff .................................................................................... 7 Parliamentary issues ............................................................................................................... 7 Party politics .......................................................................................................................... 13 Party politics- Australian Greens ........................................................................................... 14 Party politics- Australian Labor Party .................................................................................... 14 Party politics-
    [Show full text]
  • The Struggle for the Senate's Centre Michelle Grattan
    The Power of Small Voices: The Struggle for the Senate's Centre Michelle Grattan I am delighted to be here in Launceston. Many, many years ago, back in 1975, I spent a week here at the end of the Bass by-election. Talk about history! Federal Labor's defeat in that by-election was a moment of drama and a look into the future. One of the most helpful people I encountered was The Examiner's Michael Courtney. He was a font of knowledge and very generous with it; I recall an informative and entertaining dinner Laurie Oakes and I had at his home that week. John West, to whose memory this lecture is dedicated, was of course one of the moving spirits in the founding of The Examiner ; later he moved to Sydney to edit the Sydney Morning Herald . Among many other subjects, federalism and federation, then many years off, were among his interests and the subject of his writings. In the course of those writings he had some observations on the American Senate. He noted that the structure of that Senate saw a remarkable spirit of concession where – in terms of its equal representation of states – ''the power of the weakest is equal with the strongest''. He wrote: The pride of numerical authority long resisted a compromise, which seemed to give away the natural force of majorities, and which made a senator chosen in the desert equal to one appointed by the empire state; yet it is not difficult to perceive the immense value of this arrangement as a moderating influence.
    [Show full text]
  • 23. Explaining the Results
    23. Explaining the Results Antony Green Labor came to office in 2007 with its strongest hold on government in the nation’s history—it was, for the first time, in office nationally and in every state and territory. Six years later Labor left national office with its lowest first preference vote in a century. For only the third time since the First World War, a governing party failed to win a third term in office. From a clean sweep of governments in 2007, by mid-2014 Labor’s last bastions were minority governments in South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.1 Based on the national two-party-preferred vote, Labor’s 2013 result was less disastrous than previous post-war lows in 1966, 1975, 1977 and 1996. Labor also bettered those four elections on the proportion of House seats won. The two-party-preferred swing of 3.6 percentage points was also small for a change of government election, equal to the swing that defeated the Fraser Government in 1983 but smaller than those suffered by Whitlam in 1975, Keating in 1996 and Howard in 2007. Even over two elections from 2007 to 2013, the two-party- preferred swing of 6.2 percentage points was below that suffered by Labor previously over two elections (1961–66 and 1972–75), and smaller than the swing against the Coalition between 1977 and 1983. By the measure of first preference vote share, the 2013 election was a dreadful result for Labor, its lowest vote share since 1904.2 Labor’s vote share slid from 43.4 per cent in 2007 to 38.0 per cent in 2010 and 33.4 per cent in 2013.
    [Show full text]
  • Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Inquiry Into the Conduct of the 2013 Federal Election
    11 April 2014 Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Parliament House Canberra ACT Please find attached my submission to the Committee's inquiry into the conduct of the 2013 federal election. In my submission I make suggestions for changes to political party registration under the Commonwealth Electoral Act. I also suggest major changes to Senate's electoral system given the evident problems at lasty year's election as well as this year's re-run of the Western Australian Senate election. I also make modest suggestions for changes to formality rules for House of Representatives elections. I have attached a substantial appendix outlining past research on NSW Legislative Council Elections. This includes ballot paper surveys from 1999 and research on exhaustion rates under the new above the line optional preferential voting system used since 2003. I can provide the committee with further research on the NSW Legislative Council system, as well as some ballot paper research I have been carrying out on the 2013 Senate election. I am happy to discuss my submission with the Committee at a hearing. Yours, Antony Green Election Analyst Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2013 Federal Election Antony Green Contents Page 1. Political Party Registration 1 2. Changes to the Senate's Electoral System 7 2.1 Allow Optional Preferential Voting below the line 8 2.2 Above the Line Optional Preferential Voting 9 2.3 Hare Clark 10 2.4 Hybrid Group Ticket Option 10 2.5 Full Preferential Voting Above the Line 11 2.6 Threshold Quotas 11 2.7 Optional Preferential Voting with a Re-calculating Quota 12 2.8 Changes to Formula 12 2.9 My Suggested Solution 13 3.
    [Show full text]
  • My Wikileaks Party Inquiry
    My WikiLeaks Party Inquiry by Gary Lord (@Jaraparilla) A full independent review of what really happened to The Wikileaks Party. “I am not a politician.” - Julian Assange. Table of Contents Mandate................................................................................................................................................2 Terms of Reference...............................................................................................................................2 Objectives.............................................................................................................................................2 Scope....................................................................................................................................................2 Methodology.........................................................................................................................................3 Assumptions.........................................................................................................................................3 Review & Approval..............................................................................................................................3 About the Author..................................................................................................................................4 Historical Background..........................................................................................................................5 Party Foundations............................................................................................................................5
    [Show full text]
  • Balance of Power Senate Projections, Spring 2018
    Balance of power Senate projections, Spring 2018 The Australia Institute conducts a quarterly poll of Senate voting intention. Our analysis shows that major parties should expect the crossbench to remain large and diverse for the foreseeable future. Senate projections series, no. 2 Bill Browne November 2018 ABOUT THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE The Australia Institute is an independent public policy think tank based in Canberra. It is funded by donations from philanthropic trusts and individuals and commissioned research. We barrack for ideas, not political parties or candidates. Since its launch in 1994, the Institute has carried out highly influential research on a broad range of economic, social and environmental issues. OUR PHILOSOPHY As we begin the 21st century, new dilemmas confront our society and our planet. Unprecedented levels of consumption co-exist with extreme poverty. Through new technology we are more connected than we have ever been, yet civic engagement is declining. Environmental neglect continues despite heightened ecological awareness. A better balance is urgently needed. The Australia Institute’s directors, staff and supporters represent a broad range of views and priorities. What unites us is a belief that through a combination of research and creativity we can promote new solutions and ways of thinking. OUR PURPOSE – ‘RESEARCH THAT MATTERS’ The Institute publishes research that contributes to a more just, sustainable and peaceful society. Our goal is to gather, interpret and communicate evidence in order to both diagnose the problems we face and propose new solutions to tackle them. The Institute is wholly independent and not affiliated with any other organisation. Donations to its Research Fund are tax deductible for the donor.
    [Show full text]
  • The Caretaker Election
    26. The Results and the Pendulum Malcolm Mackerras The two most interesting features of the 2010 election were that it was close and it was an early election. Since early elections are two-a-penny in our system, I shall deal with the closeness of the election first. The early nature of the election does, however, deserve consideration because it was early on two counts. These are considered below. Of our 43 general elections so far, this was the only one both to be close and to be an early election. Table 26.1 Months of General Elections for the Australian House of Representatives, 1901–2010 Month Number Years March 5 1901,1983, 1990, 1993, 1996 April 2 1910, 1951 May 4 1913, 1917, 1954, 1974 July 1 1987 August 2 1943, 2010 September 4 1914, 1934, 1940, 1946 October 6 1929, 1937, 1969, 1980, 1998, 2004 November 7 1925, 1928, 1958, 1963, 1966, 2001, 2007 December 12 1903, 1906, 1919, 1922, 1931, 1949, 1955, 1961, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1984 Total 43 The Close Election In the immediate aftermath of polling day, several commentators described this as the closest election in Australian federal history. While I can see why people would say that, I describe it differently. As far as I am concerned, there have been 43 general elections for our House of Representatives of which four can reasonably be described as having been close. They are the House of Representatives plus half-Senate elections held on 31 May 1913, 21 September 1940, 9 December 1961 and 21 August 2010.
    [Show full text]
  • Voting and Elections Voting
    Voting and elections 2013 1 OVERVIEW 17 DRAWING ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES HOT TOPICS HOT Hot tip: distribution and redistribution – 2 ELECTIONS IN AUSTRALIA who draws the lines? – gerrymanders – House of Representatives elections – hot tip: hot tip: gerrymander – malapportionment and coalition – Senate elections – double dissolution ‘one vote one value’ – malapportionment and elections – House of Representatives by-elections Australian law – zonal systems. – casual Senate vacancies – state and territory 84 elections – local government elections. 20 HOW VOTES ARE COUNTED First-past-the-post voting – preferential voting 4 WHO GETS TO VOTE? – optional preferential voting – proportional Hot tip: franchise – the Commonwealth franchise representation systems – voting in proportional – states and territories – local government councils representation ballots – quotas – Hare-Clark – history of the franchise. vote counting – formal and informal votes – legal disputes over elections. 7 COMPULSORY ENROLMENT AND VOTING 24 Further InformatION Hot tip: voter turnout – What if eligible voters don’t vote? – compulsory voting: unique to Australia? – how we got compulsory enrolment and voting – current enrolment procedures. 11 CURRENT VOTING PROCEDURES 12 WHO CAN BECOME AN ELECTION CANDIDATE? How do candidates nominate? – how parties choose candidates – hot tip: preselection – preselection and the law – party registration – election funding and candidate finances. This is the eighty-fourth issue in the series Hot Topics: legal issues in plain language, published by the Legal Information Access Centre (LIAC). Hot Topics aims to give an accessible introduction to an area of law that is the subject of change or debate. AUTHOR NOTE This issue of Hot Topics has been written by Associate Professor Disclaimer: Hot Topics is intended as an introductory guide only and Rodney Smith and Dr Anika Gauja, Senior Research Fellow, should not be interpreted as legal advice.
    [Show full text]
  • Which Political Parties Are Standing up for Animals?
    Which political parties are standing up for animals? Has a formal animal Supports Independent Supports end to welfare policy? Office of Animal Welfare? live export? Australian Labor Party (ALP) YES YES1 NO Coalition (Liberal Party & National Party) NO2 NO NO The Australian Greens YES YES YES Animal Justice Party (AJP) YES YES YES Australian Sex Party YES YES YES Health Australia Party YES YES YES Science Party YES YES YES3 Pirate Party Australia YES YES NO4 Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party YES No policy YES Sustainable Australia YES No policy YES 1Labor recently announced it would establish an Independent Office of Animal Welfare if elected, however its struc- ture is still unclear. Benefits for animals would depend on how the policy was executed and whether the Office is independent of the Department of Agriculture in its operations and decision-making. Australian Democrats YES No policy No policy 2The Coalition has no formal animal welfare policy, but since first publication of this table they have announced a plan to ban the sale of new cosmetics tested on animals. Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) NO No policy NO5 3The Science Party's policy states "We believe the heavily documented accounts of animal suffering justify an end to the current system of live export, and necessitate substantive changes if it is to continue." Australian Independents Party NO No policy No policy 4Pirate Party Australia policy is to “Enact a package of reforms to transform and improve the live exports industry”, including “Provid[ing] assistance for willing live animal exporters to shift to chilled/frozen meat exports.” 6 Family First NO No policy No policy 5Nick Xenophon Team’s policy on live export is ‘It is important that strict controls are placed on live animal exports to ensure animals are treated in accordance with Australian animal welfare standards.
    [Show full text]