THE foundations for any democracy is the capacity for free elections by a popular vote. Free elections add a performance measure to our political system.
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The Senate voting system is in need of major reform. The system allows elections with a minuscule number of votes because of the preferential nature of Senate elections. It also allows major party candidates to get elected by their party selection panels, which are empowered to endorse them in the top two positions on the Senate ticket. This guarantees election for candidates in those top two spots.
At the weekend, senators Eric Abetz and Stephen Parry were re-elected to the Senate for another six years because all they needed to do was convince 60 Liberal Party selectors to give them enough votes. Whether the good senators were deserving of re-election is a matter for the Liberal Party. But the system is hardly democratic.
The two major parties have now endorsed their Senate teams. It means four out of the six spots on the ballot paper to be "contested" at next year's half-Senate federal election have been filled.
A good way to help overcome this is to abolish the above-line voting system. This method appeals to lazy or indifferent voters. Voters can number every square in order of their choice, but most number the box above their preferred party or grouping. Once they do this, the Electoral Commission must allocate votes according to the wishes of the favoured political party. It rorts the election because in at least four cases it surrenders the result to a handful of faceless party pre-selectors.
The Senate has become a rerun of the House of Representatives, in debates if not all decisions. It allows a handful of minor party and independent senators, with no mandate and only a handful of votes, to dictate national policy and thwart the mandate of a government. It also enables the major political parties to dominate the make-up of each Senate.
It needs reform, but this will require approval from the parties that have rorted the system.