The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956)(about) |
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Wednesday 15 September 1915
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EFFECTIVE VOTING.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
A NATIONAL PARLIAMENT.
"Proportional Representation and a National Parliament" was the subject of a lecture delivered by Mr. John H. Humph- reys, secretary of the Proportional Repre- sentation Society of Great Britain, who is on a brief visit to Melbourne, in the old council chamber at the Town Hall last night.
The Lord Mayor (Alderman Sir David Hennessy), who presided, said that any sys- tem of voting that would accurately regis- ter the wishes of the people would be wel-
comed in Australia.
Mr. Humphreys said that much dissatis- faction existed both as to the composition and the working of modern Parliaments. There was a good deal of danger that under the present system of elections a large number of persons might find themselves with no part or lot in the Parliament, which was supposed to speak for the people. The tendency shown in recent elections was that in the future, both in the State and Fede- ral Parliaments, the business of commer- cial and non-labour elements might have no one to voice them in the body that was supposed to be representative of all. The Senate of Australia furnished an example of what might happen "under a system which gave representution to a majority exclusively. A member under the present system might be returned in one constitu- ency by a majority of 5,000. The opponents of that member's party might win two ad- joining constituencies with a majority of 100 each. The two small majorities ob- tained two seats, and the very huge majo-
rity only obtained one seat. The results
depended upon the way in which the forces were distributed. The representation of the metropolitan areas in Australia might be monopolised bv one party. It was equally true that the representation of the country districts might be monopolised by another party. If there was a system by which both parties could be drawn from the country and urban electorates, Parlia- ment would be broadened, and a wider out- look would be given to parties. Victoria had taken a step towards the adoption of proportional representation. It required that existing districts should be so grouped that the enlarged area should be entitled to return five, six or more members each.
It further required that each elector in the large area should have only one vote. The vote was a transferable or preferential one but, however many candidates the elector selected for the purpose of marking them in the order of his choice, only one could
become an effective vote.
The object of making the vote transfer- able, Mr. Humphreys explained, was to en- sure that the majority and the minority should each obtain its fair share of repre- sentation. The elector entering the polling booth did not know whether his favourite would recceive more support than he re-
quired or whether he would receive so little
as to have no chance of election. Thus a popular cindidate of any party might re- ceive, say, 3,000 votes when he needed onlv 2,000. The votes given to excess would be lost to his party. The transferable vote enabled the elector to indicate the candi-
date of his second choice (and even further choices) to whom his vote could be trans- ferred when his first choice had more votes than he required, or when, after all excess
votes had been transferred, the elector's first choice was at the bottom of the poll. In this way Parliament became fully and fairly representative of the nation at large.
The system tended to bring into Parliament the best candidates. It tended to improve the efficiency of the representative charac- ter of Parliament. (Applause.)
The Lord Mayor, before leaving to fulfil another engagement, said that he could see that under the proportional representation system every side would have representa-
tion in Parliament. The Senate would not
be constituted as at present if the propor- tional system was in force. He considered it a very excellent way of voting.
Professor Nanson presided after the Lord Mayor's departure, and Mr. Humphreys answered a number of questions.
New Remount Unit: Recruits' Riding Tests. See illustrations in "The Australasian," Saturday,
September 18.
Domestic Art School, Collingwood. See lllus- trations in "The Australasian", Saturday, Sep-
tembcr 18.