Page 4826 - Week 15 - Thursday, 8 December 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I think that many of us would agree that part of the problem has been, certainly, the first three years of self-government and, to a certain extent, the fuss prior to the last election to do with how our electoral system works. Clarifying that and binding it will only assist in ensuring that the standing of this Assembly is enhanced rather than denigrated, as it has been on a number of occasions. Madam Speaker, I think that one of the most significant occasions of its denigration was over the situation with above-the-line voting. In fact, for the only time in the last three years, Ms Szuty and I went to the Chief Minister and said, "We do not consider that conduct becoming. We could not continue to support you as Chief Minister if above-the-line voting remains". It was fundamental to the way we believed things ought to have been done. I must say that Ms Follett responded to our meeting in, I think, less than 24 hours, or certainly within a very short while. So, above-the-line voting, appropriately, was removed.
Madam Speaker, this will allow the Robson rotation to continue to do its work. Certainly, according to the Canberra Times, early polling in the Tuggeranong area - the seat of Brindabella - indicates that voters may well be prepared to reverse the order of party tickets. I think that is a very positive thing. It means that voters will have even more say as to who they believe should be representing them. Madam Speaker, there is no doubt in my mind that we are taking the final step to deliver the fairest electoral system in the world and to leave its control in the hands of the populace at large. I think this is a very important step for the people of Canberra, and it is with great pleasure that I support this piece of legislation.
MS SZUTY (4.10): Madam Speaker, I, too, understand the motivation behind Mr Humphries seeking to entrench key provisions of the Hare-Clark electoral system, which would mean that, to overturn them, it would take a referendum of the people of the ACT or a two-thirds majority vote in the Assembly. It was certainly obvious to me at the time of the referendum in 1992 that the community had come to a clear decision about the adoption of a Hare-Clark proportional representation electoral system, as opposed to an electoral system based on single-member electorates. Madam Speaker, we have spent many hours in this Assembly, and in the previous Assembly, debating the merits of various aspects of the electoral legislation that we have put in place. Perhaps this is not surprising because, as politicians, we have a genuine interest in these matters.
Members of this chamber are aware that Government members do not necessarily share the views of the remaining members of this Assembly about what are the integral principles or components of the Hare-Clark electoral system. We know that because of the Chief Minister's attempts, in 1993, to introduce the above-the-line voting options to the Hare-Clark system. I believe that that debate is one that the community in the ACT never wishes to hear again. Mr Humphries, in his presentation speech to this Bill, referred to the comments made by the Chief Minister at the time about above-the-line voting provisions, which were included in her Electoral (Amendment) Bill. I wish to clarify yet again to members of this Assembly that my colleague, Mr Moore, and I did not threaten the stability of the ACT Government at the time in our approach to the Chief Minister; rather, we indicated to the Chief Minister that she no longer had our confidence and support as Chief Minister in proposing and supporting actions which were contradictory to the clearly expressed will of the community at the time.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .