Australian electoral system: Difference between revisions
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In Australia, voting is compulsory for all Australian citizens over 18, except prisoners currently serving a 5-year term or more. It is also compulsory to be on the electoral roll.
== The Australian Parliament ==
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The House of Representatives is made up of MPs elected from 150 single member electorates all of which have a similar voter population. The Senate is also elected using Preferential Voting, but instead it consists of 76 MPs who are selected from 8 multiple member electorates representing the 6 states and 2 territories. The Senate uses the same preferential system as for the HoR but in conjunction with proportional representation. A senate term is twice that of the HoR so that 6 members are elected each normal election from each of the six states(approximately every three years) and both territory senators from the two territories face re-election each parliamentary term.
== Preferential voting in Australia ==
[[File:Australia house vs senate support vs seats separated lines.png|thumb|Party support vs actual representation in Australian Senate vs House]]
Although Australia has a system where unlike in the U.S. and Britain a vote for a minor party isn't wasted, the two party duopoly reigns supreme and had never been threatened. Minor parties are rarely if ever elected to the lower house (HoR), although strong independent candidates much more frequently are. The noteworthy parties in Australian politics today are the Australian Labor Party (ALP) which is similar in ideology to both the British Labour Party and the U.S. Democratic party; The Liberal Party are similar to the Tories in Britain and the Republican party in the U.S. and together with the National party, who represent rural and regional interests, they form a coalition to become the second major party. Left-wing minor parties include the Greens and the Democrats and right-wing minor parties include One Nation and Family First. All other minor parties are so insignificant that they won't be covered here, typically receiving less than 1% of the overall first preference vote.
== Theories for the continuation of the major party duopoly ==
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The reasons why minor parties are underrepresented in the Australian HoR are:
a
b
c
▲b) They are not trusted enough to form an effective government, they are popularly thought of as idealistic and not practical.
▲c) They are often perceived as being 'one issue parties' with narrow agendas, such as 'the environment', 'lower fuel and beer excise' and 'nuclear disarmament'. Such Parties in Australia have such imaginative names as 'Citizen's Electoral Council', 'Fishing Party' and 'Family First'.
In conclusion Condorcet voting is far superior to PV or IRV, but PV is often unfairly sidelined as being 'little better than Plurality', when in fact it is a pretty good and solid half way house to complete democracy.
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