EDITORIAL: People’s Premier all about politics on one vote, one value reforms as regions get raw deal

One vote, one value and one bad taste left in the mouths of country voters. In the days before the State Election, Premier Mark McGowan repeatedly told reporters in Albany that Upper House electoral reform was not on his agenda. “Enhanced regional representation will continue and this is just another smokescreen by the Liberals and Nationals,” Mr McGowan said, flanked by retiring MP Peter Watson and his successor in Albany, Rebecca Stephens. Well, here we are — six months later — and one vote, one value is all but locked in. Mr McGowan has since claimed Labor only considered the reforms after winning an unexpected majority in the Upper House. In announcing the proposed reforms last week, Labor argued regional representation would be enhanced by one vote, one value. That’s a hard argument to make. Under WA’s existing system, Upper House MPs are evenly split across six electoral regions, including three in country WA. That means half of our Upper House MPs specifically represent country electorates, despite those electorates having lower populations. It encourages candidates to fight for regional votes and live in regional WA, giving us a strong voice in the house of review when we might otherwise be overwhelmed by the pulling power of our two million metro mates. It’s a good arrangement for regional WA — and it’s set to be replaced by one big Statewide electorate dominated by Perth. NSW introduced similar reforms in 1978, but they were decided by a referendum. Asked why the reforms were not going to a referendum in WA — or being taken to an election — Mr McGowan said: “This is totally in accordance with the law”. He enjoys an incredible level of support in WA, but on this issue at least, the people’s Premier has been all about politics.