In other words, who or what are most important? Me and the platform I was voted on, or the opportunity to belittle and demean people who are opposed to my way of thinking, opposed to my very specific interests? Or just any one on the ‘other side’ who needs to be pulled back a peg or two?
Or could it be that we see as our nation transitions from who we are today and who we will be tomorrow is not something that happens at the click of the fingers, but is a slowly changing landscape, which we are all involved in making the best of, securing a better place to live, and each of us have an input, the investors who will provide jobs and careers, the workers who will be paid a wage or salary which gives them the best opportunity for a good life, health systems and environmental controls for a better future. The changes needed to ensure we deal with the challenges of global warming, and so on and on the list goes.
At the last Federal Election, Labor won in a landslide. Winning 94 of the 150 seats in the Lower House – up by 17 seats in the previous parliament. In the Senate there were 40 of 76 seats contested. Senators from the states are elected for six-year terms, from the ACT and NT, for three years terms. Labor won 16 of the 40 seats, increasing their number of senators to 28, an increase of three seats, but well short of a majority. The LNP coalition lost 15 seats, leaving them with 43, and 13 seats to minor parties and independents.
In the Senate, the LNP finished with 3 seats lost, reducing their number to 27, Greens, remain on 11 seats, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation picked up an additional two seats, Jacqui Lambi retained her seat, and Fatima Payman was not up for elections and retains her seat.
Having such a majority in the House of Representatives is tempered by the distribution of power in the Senate.
To pass legislation through the Senate, each bill is scrutinised and consider by each of the positions those non-government senators may have. Compromises must be made.
Electorates for Federal Elections are determined on a per capita basis for House of Representative seats, so that each seat has as near to feasible, an equal number of voters. There are twelve seats for each state in the Senate. State Senators have six-year terms, with half up for election each three years. Two senators for each of the Territories, each for three-year terms.
The electoral system in Australia is controlled by Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), a body independent of the political parties, and the AEC runs elections at Federal, State and Local levels as well as overseeing Union Ballots and other elections. The preferential voting system ensures that the candidate who wins the seat must achieve a minimum of 50% plus one vote. The Sydney seat of Bradfield was won by just 26 votes.
Voting is compulsory in Australia, and the AEC updates the electoral rolls prior to each election, ensuring that all eligible voters can vote. Another feature of the Australian system is that votes can be cast even if the voter is not in their electorate, through an absentee voting system. Participation rates in Australian elections are over 90% of eligible voters. The Australian public knows that compromises need to be made, and have voted to ensure that legislation is properly scrutinised, giving a pretty good chance that all interests are considered in passing legislation.
This is important when considering how democracy and the voting system works in Australia, and how is that different from other democracies.
Why is it that even though it is not perfect, the Australian system seems to work quite well? It is probably good to have a quick look at some of the other systems which are not working quite so well.
With so much attention given to American politics, and the USA proudly boasting its democratic credentials, it is well worth a bit of a look at.
Yes, a democracy but with a deeply entrenched two party system, a system which is operated at state levels, by party appointed commissioners whose responsibilities include all aspects of running the elections. As in the Australian system, Congressional seats are drawn up to be as near as feasible to having an equal number of eligible voters, and each state has two senators. Congressional seats are contested every two years along with a third of senate seats, and every second election includes a Presidential election.
The President is elected by the a combined Congress and Senate vote in each state. Of the fifty states, only two, are district based, so the votes are awarded according to the results in each congressional district plus the Senators vote. All other states use a ‘winner take all’ method, awarding all college votes to the candidate who won the state. There are 538 college votes, so 270 are needed to win the Presidency.
Voting is not compulsory, and much effort is spent on getting people top vote, so rather than devoting all energy on the issues much money and effort is devoted to enrolling voters. The funding of elections is through donations, which makes the system able to be ‘bought’ by major donors. The influence of the gun lobby is a prime example of how that can work.
Currently, the US Congress and Senate are controlled by the Republican Party, as is the Presidency, which makes the passage of legislation an easy ride for the party in power. There is very little need for serious negotiation. The exception is, as the current stalemate demonstrates, that there are a couple of times when a 60% vote need to apply, such as the emergency funding which is currently held up with the threat to Medicare funding.
The first Tuesday in November is election day in the US, and terms are fixed. There is no room for a special election, such as should the current stalemate continue, it will do so until the next election day, Tuesday 3 November, 2026.
In the meantime, if the emergency funding is not passed through the congress, government services will not be funded and services such as health, defence, air traffic control, food stamps, and other social benefits will not be available. The people who feel that most are those in greatest need. The unwillingness to compromise hurts those dependent on government services, and there is no relief trigger, no election outside the mandated election cycle. Just political point scoring, grandstanding by those who were elected to serve their constituents.
The Whitlam sacking, fifty years ago was triggered by the withholding of supply, effectively denying passage of the budget so that the government could not function. The immediate effect was that parliament resumed under a caretaker government, the budget was passed and fresh elections were held. (We may not have liked the results, but hey, that’s the way Democracy works. The voters decided the result. A new government was elected and business went on as usual.)
A different system, the Dutch, are having another election, called because they cannot form a functioning coalition since it seems no party wants to work with Geert Wilder’s extreme right party. The four year election cycle no longer works. The last election was in 2024.
The system there is bicameral with both houses serving four-years terms; the Senate, or First Chamber, being a house of review, with 75 members elected by provincial councillors based on the proportional representation at provincial elections.
The House of Representatives in the Netherlands consists of 150 members elected on a proportional representation ballot – a bit like our Senate ballot – but for all members. Currently there are around 150 parties vying for votes, and the likelihood of any party firstly gaining a majority is remote, and the second challenge of forming a coalition which works is equally difficult, which is the reason for the latest election. The voters get to choose. Again.
As far as representation goes, the House of Representatives electorate is effectively all of the Netherlands. The range of parties across the political spectrum is a bit crazy, from extreme left to extreme right and a plethora of special interests thrown in for good measure. Democracy at work, where whatever interest can have a voice in the national parliament, but so diverse that consensus is difficult to achieve, and coalitions become increasingly fragile. The unwillingness to compromise creates a stalemate, and can lead to another election.
The British had an election last year. Five-year terms in a bicameral system but the very special House of Lords as the unelected privileged retain a measure of control.
The voting system is of electorates of close to the same number of constituents, but the voting count is simple, all votes are counted, the cross or tick on the ballot paper determines which candidate is voted for and the person with the most votes wins. In a seat where there may be many contesting, that would allow a winner to be called without there being a clear majority. In the 2024 election 4,515 candidates stood for 632 seats, an average of seven candidates per seat. If the voting was fairly evenly spread, over about 75,000 constituents, that would mean that the person who got the most votes could have won with less than 11,000 votes. (In preferential voting, the number would have to be 37,501 votes, 50% plus 1, to win.)
The difficulty that presents is that the voters may not feel that they are fairly represented. Add to that, that voting is voluntary, and so the feeling of not being represented leads to disenchantment, and a lack of trust in the system.
That is showing very clearly in France as the revolving door to the Prime Minister’s office sees the difficulty of failing to work together as elected members, working to do the best for their constituents as well as the nation as a whole.
We can go through country after country, electoral system after electoral system and the ones which work the best are ones where there is a sense that the government is working for ‘us’, for ‘me’.
I remember a chat I had several years ago with the then Premier of WA, Mark Mc Gowan, as I attended an anti-fracking protest. His comment was interesting, and true, that politics is the art of compromise.
What we see in the US today with the arrogance of the power play, Trump and his acolytes in Congress, the dysfunctionality of the Dutch system with its plethora of parties, with the British system where the representatives can be voted in by such a small proportion of votes that they hardly represent their constituency, and the house of review in the hands of unelected members, or in France where again, the ability to form coalitions which will work to the best interests of the country is being stymied by, in this case, the far-right, the anti-immigrant partly and a president who is effectively a lame duck, riding out his second and final term.
Where there is no will to balance the disparate needs of the country, its economy, its social structure, the business community as well as the workers who go to work each day, the mothers who balance child care and work, the FIFO workers, children facing bullying at school, the uni student who sees their debt rise semester after semester and face mounting debt which will affect their ability to buy a home.
Seeing politicians I have been privileged to meet, to work on campaigns with, I do not envy their roles, I have no desire to take on that job. It is probably the hardest job going, and then I read commentary critical of politicians, whether it be a journo writing for the Murdoch press or even the more centrist, or is it left leaning crickey.com or The Saturday Paper, critical of the actions of a parliamentarian, critical of the PM or any other minister going about the hard work of representing a constituency and all the challenges that faces, balancing the needs of industry, the economy, the geo-political environment which is so challenged with he climate crisis and the myriad of issues they face day by day.
Or a coffee mate who can see no good being done, no matter who is in government.
I don’t think I could do that job, and I seriously doubt that the critics could either.
We are privileged to live in probably the most democratic of countries, and yes, there have been times when our governments have been pretty useless, have been on the nose, but we live in a country where our votes really do count, and those who are keyboard warriors, critical of the work being done, I challenge you to stand up and show well you really could do in parliament, in a position where you really are accountable not just in the bits you are critical of, but of the whole spectrum of challenges to be faced in government.
Divisiveness is the easy part of politics, cutting down tall poppies is a fun pasttime, but coming up with solutions is the hard part. That is what governments are elected to do, and that is a balancing act more challenging than the finest street performer could manage.
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Modern “democracies” are created under the watchful eye of the politicians we voted for. Therein lies the problem!
Yes, indeed Oz has a fairly robust electoral system. But that is not all it takes.
Politics, policy and government must be balanced and transparently advised by a ‘free and fearless’ non-elected, non-aligned public service bureaucracy comprised of skilled professionals engaged on a long term basis and elevated (internally) to seniority on the basis of merit. To achieve this there must be checks and balances participated in by both politicians and bureaucrats together.
And that essential system in Oz has been severely corrupted. It is one of the main sources of govt dysfunction, and has been brought about by guileful politicians.
It is one of the principal markers of the worst of neo-liberal / neo-conservative capitalism. And as we have seen before, and are seeing again in T-Rump’s America, its extension in extremis can quickly devastate democracy and lead to authoritarianism favoring the monied elite, and at worst fascism.