Many people believe that the nation has to put up with its disappointing federal parliamentary system and that it is caused by the current minority government. In reality, the cause is the adversarial two-party system itself which is the direct result of the single-member-electoral system.
The remedy here is proportional representation. It is used by around 90 states in the world, especially the open-party-list-system. Australia only knows the Hare-Clark system of P R which may be suitable for small assemblies but has caused major problems for Senate elections, with the infamous tablecloth elections. Above-the-line voting has put an end to that, as 96 per cent of the voters avoid the complex compulsory preferencing under the line. With the open party list system, voters make one mark only, for a party and for their preferred candidate of that party. In a parliament elected on the basis of P R, parties seek common ground to form a coalition government. It is more flexible, more democratic, less costly and easier to count. Minority Government is not the result of P R at all, as often claimed. It is in fact a by-product of a failing two-party system. P R results in true majority government by coalition.
Klaas Woldring
Pearl Beach
