VOTE WEIGHTING IN ELECTORAL SYSTEMS: THE ‘ONE VOTE, ONE VALUE’ DEBATE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA Norman John Patrick Kelly A dissertation presented as part of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Social Sciences (Politics) (Honours) within the Faculty of Media, Society and Culture of the Curtin University of Technology, 2004. November 2004 One Vote, One Value ii Declaration I declare that this Honours thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institute of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. Norman John Patrick Kelly 1 November 2004 One Vote, One Value iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my thanks to my supervisors, Associate Professor David Charnock and Dr Alan Fenna – David, particularly for assisting in the development of the scope and direction of the thesis, and theoretical perspectives; and Alan, for your willingness to step in at a late stage of the project. Thank you to the staff at Curtin, particularly Dr Philip Moore and Dr Patrick Bertola, who always responded promptly and effectively to my long- distance requests. Thanks also to Karin Hosking and Liz Foster, for your technical guidance in the preparation of the thesis, and to the staff at the Parliamentary Library of Western Australia, and Members’ staff, for your ready assistance. Special thanks go to my interview participants, who generously gave of their time to openly discuss matters that were of particular political sensitivity. Finally, special thanks go to my partner Gail, whose encouragement, belief, emotional and practical support, and love, helped ensure the success of this project. One Vote, One Value iv Abstract Electoral systems play the predominant role in determining the nature of political expression in representative democracies. The manipulation of an electoral system to favour a particular group or class of citizens distorts the representative nature of a legislature and therefore diminishes the legitimacy that a parliament or government may claim. Australian electoral systems have a history of vote weighting, where citizens from particular geographic areas or jurisdictions receive an enhanced value for their vote. In recent decades, there has been a general trend in Australia to adopt models of voting equality, with all legislatures except Western Australia now having to some extent put in place voting based on the principle of one vote, one value. The issue of electoral reform in Western Australia, and particularly the question of voting equality, currently remains largely unresolved, with an expectation that the result of the upcoming state election, due in late 2004 or early 2005, will determine future directions for reform. The general aim of the current study was to add to the theoretical and practical understanding of vote weighting in Australian electoral systems. This was carried out by conducting an analysis of the attempts by the Gallop Labor Government from 2001 to 2004 to reform the Western Australian electoral system. The central research question was ‘What political forces were at play during the legislative and judicial debates on the Gallop Government’s attempt to introduce electoral reform based on one vote, one value?’ The study incorporated a triangulation of method and data source, and incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including personal interviews with key participants in the debates. The findings suggest that while political theory may be applied in designing electoral systems, political imperatives will ultimately determine their construction. In the Western Australian debate, certain political parties are more adept at adopting strategies that minimise public criticism for unpopular decisions, and the major political parties are willing to consider alliances at the expense of minor parties. In addition, governments have the ability to limit the effectiveness of parliaments through the restriction of funding. It is hoped that these results will contribute to the knowledge in the area of electoral system development and design. One Vote, One Value v Table of Contents Title Page i Declaration ii Acknowledgments iii Abstract iv Table of Contents v List of Tables viii List of Graphs ix List of Maps ix Acronyms x Quotations xi Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Methodological Considerations 4 2.1 Contextual Issues 4 2.2 Method 5 2.3 Quantitative – Indices of Malapportionment 6 2.3.1 David-Eisenberg Index 7 2.3.2 Dauer-Kelsay Index 7 2.3.3 Gini Index / Coefficient 7 2.4 Qualitative – Interview Techniques 9 2.4.1 Interview Participants 10 2.5 The Role of the Researcher 10 Chapter 3 Political Theory of Representative Democracies and Electoral Systems 12 3.1 Representative Government 12 3.2 British Origins of Electoral Systems 13 3.3 Types of Electoral Systems 14 3.4 Australian Electoral Systems – Bicameral and Unicameral Parliaments 17 3.5 The Value of a Vote – Malapportionment and One Vote, One Value 18 3.6 Summary 20 One Vote, One Value vi Chapter 4 Australian Electoral Systems 21 4.1 The Federal Electoral System 21 4.1.1 The Senate 22 4.1.2 The House of Representatives 24 4.2 Recent Attempts to Introduce the Principle of One Vote, One Value to the Federal System 26 4.3 State and Territory Electoral Systems 28 4.3.1 Victoria 29 4.3.2 New South Wales 30 4.3.3 South Australia 30 4.3.4 Queensland 30 4.3.5 Tasmania 32 4.3.6 Australian Capital Territory 32 4.3.7 Northern Territory 33 4.4 Summary 34 Chapter 5 Western Australia – The Electoral System 35 5.1 Early History 35 5.2 Labor Party Actions towards Electoral Reform – 1970s to 1990s 40 5.3 Commission on Government 42 5.4 Election Results – 1996 and 2001 43 5.5 Current Electoral Boundaries 45 5.6 Summary 47 Chapter 6 Western Australia – Recent Attempts at Electoral Reform 50 6.1 Coalition Moves for Reform 51 6.2 The Lead Up to Legislation 51 6.3 The Gallop Labor Government Introduces Legislation 53 6.3.1 The Electoral Distribution Repeal Bill 2001 53 6.3.2 The Electoral Amendment Bill 2001 53 6.4 The Parliamentary Debates 54 6.4.1 The Legislative Assembly Debate 54 6.4.2 Initial Legislative Council Debate 55 6.4.3 Standing Committee Inquiry 56 6.4.4 Action by the Clerk of the Parliaments 58 One Vote, One Value vii 6.4.5 Renewed Parliamentary Debate 58 6.4.6 Summary of Parliamentary Actions 59 6.5 Supreme Court Action 59 6.6 High Court Action 60 6.7 Summary 61 Chapter 7 Findings 63 7.1 The Impact of One Vote, One Value on Labor and the Coalition 63 7.2 The Role of the Greens 65 7.2.1 Determining the Greens’ Position 66 7.2.2 The Greens Model – Self-Interest or an Ethical Position? 67 7.2.3 Strategic Response to the Greens Model 68 7.3 The Role of the Coalition Parties 70 7.3.1 Liberal Party 70 7.3.2 National Party 71 7.4 Initiating Supreme Court Action 72 7.5 Further Negotiations 74 7.6 A Deliberative Vote for the President 75 7.7 Subsequent Developments 76 7.8 Summary 77 Chapter 8 Concluding Discussion 78 8.1 Summary of Findings 78 8.2 Future Scenarios 80 8.3 Strengths and Limitations of the Study 81 8.4 Future Research 82 8.5 Conclusion 83 References 84 Appendices 94 Appendix A – Legislation 94 Appendix B – Participant Information Form 105 One Vote, One Value viii List of Tables 4.1 Enrolments per Elected Senator (based on the 2004 half-Senate election) 22 4.2 Enrolment numbers for House of Representatives electorates, by State/Territory (2004 election figures) 24 4.3 Allowable Variation (%) from Average Quota 29 5.1 Historical Malapportionment in the Legislative Assembly, Western Australia (one election from each decade) 38 5.2 Western Australian Legislative Assembly – Comparison of voting support and number of seats won 44 5.3 Western Australian Legislative Council – Comparison of voting support and number of seats won 45 5.4 Western Australian Enrolment Figures – Legislative Assembly Electorates (Divisions) as at 13 July 2004 46 6.1 Western Australian Legislative Council – Seats by Party, 1997-2004 51 7.1 Western Australian Legislative Assembly – Seats by Party, August 2001 64 7.2 Labor’s Proposed Reform of Legislative Assembly seats 64 7.3 The Greens Model for the Legislative Council 67 One Vote, One Value ix List of Graphs 2.1 Gini Index for the Legislative Assembly, Western Australia, 1927 8 4.1 Australian Senate – 2004 Half-Senate Election 23 4.2 Australian House of Representatives – 2004 Election 26 4.3 Queensland Assembly, enrolments at 31 August 2004 31 4.4 Australian Capital Territory, enrolments at 16 October 2004 election 33 4.5 Northern Territory Assembly, enrolments at 7 April 2004 34 5.1 Western Australian Legislative Assembly, enrolments at 13 July 2004 39 5.2 Western Australian Legislative Council, enrolments at 13 July 2004 40 List of Maps 5.1 Non-Metropolitan Regions 48 5.2 Metropolitan Regions 49 One Vote, One Value x Acronyms ACT Australian Capital Territory AGPS Australian Government Publishing Service AEC Australian Electoral Commission Austlii Australasian Legal Information Institute CDL Country and Democratic League COG Commission on Government DLP Democratic Labor Party ECQ Electoral Commission of Queensland HCA High Court of Australia JSCEM Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters LAACT Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory LCL Liberal Country League NSW New South Wales NTEC Northern Territory Electoral Commission SCL Standing Committee on Legislation SCWA Supreme Court of Western Australia SLCRC Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee TDPC Tasmanian Department of Premier and Cabinet VEC Victorian Electoral Commission WAEC Western Australian Electoral Commission One Vote, One Value xi The cause of all these evils was love of power due to ambition and greed, which led to the rivalries from which party spirit sprung.