‘An attack on regional WA’ — country voters to take a hit in one vote, one value WA Upper House overhaul

The electorate representing Albany in WA’s Upper House is set to be completely abolished in a switch to a one vote, one value system in the biggest electoral overhaul the State has ever seen. The change has been labelled both an “attack” on regional WA and a “historic day for democracy and fairness” by opposing sides of Parliament. Under the proposed changes, the Legislative Council’s six existing electoral regions would be abolished, and MPs would instead be elected based on proportional representation across the entire State. One additional MP would be added to the Upper House — taking the total number from 36 to 37 — in a bid to eliminate voting deadlocks. The system would mirror how politicians are elected to the NSW and SA Legislative Councils, and would spell an end to the malapportionment that currently means votes cast in the bush can be worth up to six times those in the city. But unlike when NSW adopted similar electoral reform in 1978, Premier Mark McGowan said no referendum would be held to determine whether the changes had the support of WA’s voting public. In effect, the change means a party would win a seat for about every 45,000 votes it received in the Legislative Council. It also reflects the Federal Senate, where senators represent the entire State rather than a particular district or region. It means no MPs would be elected specifically to represent regional areas — a major departure from the 18 who currently represent the South West, Agricultural, and Mining and Pastoral regions. Currently Albany is represented by three Labor MPs, one Liberal MP, one Nationals WA MP and one MP from the Legalise Cannabis WA Party — elected in a major upset after first-time candidate Sophia Moermond secured a place despite garnering fewer first-preference votes than other parties. The new system was recommended by a ministerial expert committee on electoral reform chaired by former WA governor Malcolm McCusker, who handed down the Final Report on Electoral Reform in State Parliament yesterday. The Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Equality) Bill 2021 was set to be introduced the same day. The committee also recommended the abolition of group voting tickets, which allow complex preference harvesting deals between micro-parties allowing candidates to be elected despite receiving a tiny fraction of overall votes. Premier Mark McGowan said the review was initiated in the wake of the “clearly undemocratic” 2021 election result, when Daylight Saving Party candidate Wilson Tucker was elected with only 98 first-preference votes. “The Upper House is broken, the system is broken,” Mr McGowan said. “Today is a historic day for democracy and fairness in Western Australia. “Someone worth six times someone else is not the way Australia is. “We don’t have that view of our citizens.” Ahead of March’s election, Mr McGowan repeatedly said electoral reform was “not on the agenda” for his party. However he announced the creation of the ministerial expert committee on the second sitting day of Parliament in April. Speaking outside of State Parliament yesterday, Opposition Leader Mia Davies’ scathing response to the announcement was that the changes were “an attack by this Labor Government on regional WA”. “What we see today in a report we have just been briefed on is the pursuit of electoral reform based on mathematical equality — it is a notion of mathematical equality,” she said. “And what it will do is will rip regional representation from this State Parliament. “The last time the Labor Party pursued electoral reform we saw six seats ripped from the bush and added to the metropolitan area. “This recommendation and legislation that we will no doubt see is far, far worse. “If they had any shred of decency they would shelve the report and take this to the next election so regional Western Australians, and in fact all Western Australians, could have a say in what will change the electoral landscape for many generations to come.” Ms Davies said the Opposition had “maintained that the review had been a sham from the outset” considering the limited terms of reference and the people chosen for the committee. “I think it is a very poor outcome for democracy today in WA,” she said. “I think that is what you can expect from the make-up of the Parliament from now on, that we will see a concentration of members of Parliament here in the metro area, that we will rely on feedback via email and submissions rather than actually understanding what it means to live and work in those communities and actually engage with those people that you have to represent. “This Premier lied to the people of WA because he denied this was on the agenda, came to the Parliament and made it their first order of business, and in the midst of the global pandemic, with our health system on its knees, they are pursuing this ahead of actually dealing with things that impact people on a daily basis. “This will reduce the ability for us to bridge the gap that we know exists between regional Western Australia and the metropolitan area.” South West Liberal MLC Steve Thomas yesterday said the people of Albany and every region should be “rightly gutted” by the announcement. “It’s a shattering day for democracy, it might be a great day for the Labor Party,” he said. “It is devastating for regional WA. But we shouldn’t be surprised. “It is in the Labor Party’s DNA not just to gut the Upper House but to get rid of it entirely, and this is another step down the path. “Mark McGowan said, I think it was in Albany six months ago, just before the election that this was not on his agenda but he has just taken political advantage of the situation to rush this through. “And the critical thing is regional representation is about access to members and having your voice heard. It is not purely about the number of votes that elect somebody, and that’s what the Labor Party is ignoring. “It is to their political advantage but it is to the massive disadvantage of all regional communities and people.” “If people think that this is a good idea they should reflect on how Western Australia is treated by the Eastern States, and particularly the level of input that we get. “We have always struggled to be heard in Canberra and that is because we don’t have a huge number of seats. Regional people now will face the same sort of isolation and voicelessness.” Mr McCusker said the whole-of- State model recommended by the committee was “almost inevitable” given the terms of reference devised by the McGowan Government. “The recommended system ensures every voter will be entitled to vote for his or her preferred candidate regardless of where they live or what they represent,” Mr McCusker said.