{"id":63,"date":"2013-05-18T15:10:03","date_gmt":"2013-05-18T05:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.electoralreformaustralia.org\/?page_id=63"},"modified":"2015-02-04T20:11:57","modified_gmt":"2015-02-04T10:11:57","slug":"who-we-are-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/?page_id=63","title":{"rendered":"Who We Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

Electoral Reform Australia is the NSW Branch of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia. We promote better electoral models for government and all other elected bodies.<\/p>\n

What we stand for<\/h1>\n

WE support the use of proportional representation for the election of all representative bodies.<\/p>\n

Many forms of proportional representation are available and most, if not all, are preferable to the system of single-member electorates current in most of the nation\u2019s lower houses.<\/p>\n

The Single Transferable Vote (STV), also known as the Hare Clark system, is the model supported by Electoral Reform Australia.<\/p>\n

Under a STV electoral system, instead of returning only one member per electorate, two, and preferably more members are elected from each electorate. \u00a0Each successful member is elected, not by a majority, but by a quota which is determined by a mathematical formula. \u00a0A candidate is elected when he or she achieves enough votes to reach a quota. \u00a0For every quota a political party receives it will elect a candidate.<\/p>\n

The result is that representatives are returned in the same proportion as votes cast for their party.<\/p>\n

The STV model favoured by Electoral Reform Australia would include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Multi-member electorates returning at least nine members each.<\/strong>
    \nElectorates returning nine or more members guarantee that the quota for election is 10% or less.
    \nElectorates returning at least nine members reduce the likelihood that the electorates will be in electoral stasis – a reasonable swing in political terms will be reflected in a change in the political representation within the electorate.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Multi-member electorates returning as far as possible the same number of members.<\/strong>
    \nIn single jurisdictions, such as state parliaments and local government, the electorates should all return the same number of members.
    \nAs the number of representatives in the Australian House of Representatives \u00a0is determined by the Constitution, the electorates within a state and between states should be as equal as possible.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Robson Rotation should be used to randomise the order on the ballot paper of candidates within party groupings.<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Fully optional preferential voting.<\/strong>
    \nAny vote with a single 1 should be included in the count as a formal vote. \u00a0A single tick or cross should be treated as though the voter had marked the ballot paper with a 1.
    \nVoters should be encouraged by wording on the ballot paper to continue their preferences but should not be penalised if they choose not to do so.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. High electoral deposits.<\/strong>
    \nElectoral deposits should be substantial, levelled against each candidate rather than the party, and returned in quarterly instalments with the whole of the deposit returned when the votes received by the candidate reach 4% of the total formal vote.
    \nParties should be allowed to run as many candidates as there are positions to be filled, but to be entitled to a party grouping the party must run at least two candidates.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. The Meek method for counting a STV ballot.<\/strong>
    \nIn this computer age the Meek Method for counting a proportional representation ballot should be used as it allows the fairest distribution of preferences.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  7. The use of Countback to fill casual vacancies caused by the death or resignation of elected members.<\/strong>
    \nThe ballot papers from any election should be kept and the whole ballot recounted as though the dead or retiring member had not contested the ballot. \u00a0Regardless of the result, no sitting member should lose their seat by the use of the countback provision.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Electorates returning an odd or even number of members.<\/strong>
    \n<\/span>Provided the electorate returns at least ten (10) members there is no need to avoid having an even number of members returned. \u00a0An excessive adherence to the principle of having electorates return an uneven number of members will distort the quotas and the principle that every voter should be treated as equally as possible.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Electoral Reform Australia does not<\/span> support, and considers detrimental to democratic expression, the use of the following provisions:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Above-the-line voting and any associated registered group voting tickets.<\/strong>
      \nThe use of above-the-line voting undermines the ability of the voters to freely chose their own representatives. \u00a0The associated group voting tickets transfer power from the voter to party officials and gives unwarranted power to frivolous groups and joke candidates. \u00a0The use of such tickets so far has resulted in the election of some candidates with miniscule voter support who, without the use of such devices, would never have been elected.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Thresholds.<\/strong>
      \nThe use of thresholds has the potential to distort the result of an election. \u00a0STV should be allowed to work. \u00a0If a party, or group of parties, is able to reach a quota then that group is entitled to representation. \u00a0Thresholds are an unnecessary manipulation of the system.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Division of local government areas into wards.<\/strong>
      \nElectoral Reform Australia does not support the subdivision of local government areas into wards. \u00a0STV guarantees that any group can be represented provided it can reach a quota.\u00a0<\/span>If voters believe that their area of the council needs to be represented by locals then they have the power to elect such representatives. Similarly, if they believe that a candidate from another area of the council better represents their views then they should not be prevented from supporting such a candidate.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Electoral Reform Australia is the NSW Branch of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia. We promote better electoral models for government and all other elected bodies. What we stand for WE support the use of proportional representation for the election of all representative bodies. Many forms of proportional representation are available and most, if not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-63","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382,"href":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions\/382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoralreformaustralia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}