The NSW Branch recommends that the PRSA adopt and promote the model for the election of the House of Representatives and Senate as devised by Stephen Lesslie and laid out in detail on the website lesslie.com.au.
The model incorporates:
- A Hare-Clark proportional representation system for the election of both the House of Representatives and the Senate
- Fully optional preferential voting
- The Robson Rotation
- The Gregory transfer
- The abolition of a bove-the-line voting and registered group voting tickets.
The model for the House of Representatives is based on fourteen multi-member electorates which can elect up to 19 members. The current maximum is fifteen members.
The states of Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania are treated as single electorates electing 15, 11 and 5 members respectively.
New South Wales and Queensland are divided into 4 and 2 electorates each electing 12 and 15 members respectively (based on the 2009 redistribution)
Victoria is divided into 3 electorates of which 2 elect 12 members and one elects 13 members.
The ACT and Northern Territory are single electorates electing 4 and 3 members, in order to allow PR to operate. Note that Senate representation for the territories is abolished under the model.
Each electorate in the divided states incorporates capital city and regional areas, and is therefore representative of the state as a whole.
The model proposes fourteen separate electorates for the House of Representatives.
The advantages of the model over other proportional representation models are:
- Within individual states each electorate returns similar numbers of member.
- Within individual states the quota for election is either the same or as close as possible. With the mainland states the quota is within a narrow band of 6.25-8.34%
- Within individual states the geographic size of individual electorates is similar
- Within the parameters of the Australian Constitution, where individual states are allocated a specific number of seats, the quotas for election are as close as possible to each other
- In the territories the ineffective representation consequent upon two-member Senate representation is abolished and replaced by multi-member electorates in which proportional representation is allowed to work
- Once established the electorates are generally self-sustaining as the population drift from country to city is accommodated within individual electorates
- The model is gerrymander-proof
- The number of electorates per State is stable. Western Australia with 15 members would need to increase its share of the national population to entitle it to 20 members before needing to be split into 2 electorates.
- Redistributions would be rare or non-existent.