Pauline Hanson is back in the fryer and mix of batter fishing for votes

ABC Election Analyst Antony Green's take on the Hanson factor


Missing from Antony Green's analysis commentary is the impact of Julian Assange's Wikileaks Party and the flaws in the way we count the Senate vote

Analysis of the 2007 Victorian Senate count shows that had Pauline Hanson - One Nation preference the LNP before the ALP ahead of the Greens David Feeney would have been defeated and the Greens would have been elected. This is primarily due to the distortion in the way the Senate vote is counted.

The Australian Senate voting system is an approximation proportional vote count. Its not pure proportional.

It's method of counting the vote is outdated with flaws in the calculation of the transfer vale and segmentation of excluded candidates vote

The system needs reform. A weighted transfer value and a reiterative count where the count is reset and restarted on every exclusion as if the excluded candidate had not stood. In the past such a model was prohibitive to count manually, With the use of computer aided counting and "above the line" voting a reiterative count with a weighted transfer value would better reflect the voters intentions.

Consideration should also be given to abolishing the Droop quota where the cake is divided by 7 and a slice thrown away. A system that inflates the value of some votes denying up to 14% of the electorate the right of representation of a candidate of their choice.

Posted by: democracyATwork | June 04, 2013 at 06:04 AM

The nomination fee for the Senate from $2000 to $5000 per candidate with a deposit refund available for every 4% to one candidate not all candidates for each party/group that polls over 4% This will reduce the number of candidates and groups that have no real chance of being elected seeking nomination.

Optional preferential should be a saving provision only. Optional preferential voting distorts the proportionality of the vote. In 2010 Victorian Upper-house (Western Metropolitan Region) Family First/DLP voters who voted 1 to 5 below the line elected by default a Green candidate as a result of optional preferential voting. Had they preference through to the ALP Colleen Hartwell would not have been elected.

Yes "Above the line" ticket voting in the Senate has increased the value of minor party votes as they are able to direct preferences. under normal circumstances minor parties can preferences scatter. The Greens, Sex Party and the like can not normally direct preferences. Ticket voting gives them this power.

The above commentary by Antony Green fails to consider the impact of the Assange Wikileaks Party. Recent claims that up to 24% of the electorate will vote Wikileaks

Add to this issues such as the Droop Quota (The wasted quota), segmentation in distribution and the method of calculating the surplus transfer value and our system of proportional representation no longer reflects the voters intentions.

We need urgent electoral reform


Odds are the LNP will not control the Senate and a early election is most likely to follow in 2014 

Posted by: democracyATwork | June 04, 2013 at 08:09 AM