HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Optional Preferential Voting (OPV)

Optional Preferential Voting ("OPV") is a fair and democratic method - an alternative voting system - which allows us to express our true preferences for political candidates. If we want a particular candidate to win, then we can mark "1" in the box next to that candidate's name. That's our first preference.

Under OPV, many voters may choose to leave it there. But others may feel that if their first preference does not win, then they would like to see their second choice (i.e. preference) have a shot at winning. And others may back up their second preference with a third, fourth and so on, depending on the number of choices appearing on the Ballot paper.

The point is that no one is forcing us to indicate preferences for candidates we may know nothing about. OPV allows us to vote only for the candidates we wish to vote for. Hence, the will of the Electorate can be expressed in a fairer and more democratic way.

Reducing Informal Votes

With the existing system of fully preferential voting we are forced to number all the boxes against all the candidates' names. If there are 10 candidates then 10 boxes must be marked 1 to 10 in order of our preferences. If we don't mark all the boxes our entire vote is deemed informal and will not be counted. And that is unfair to voters who genuinely wanted to cast their vote for at least their first preference.

It is known that OPV can reduce informal (i.e. wasted) votes by 50%. And many of these so-called informal Ballot papers contain valid first preference votes. OPV in New South Wales and Queensland state elections has proved this to be so.

It is demonstrably undemocratic to have your vote disregarded simply because you did not number a second, third, fourth, fifth (up to tenth) preference for candidates you may not even like or never have heard of.

Advantages of OPV

Optional preferencing expresses the true will of the Electorate.

Fewer informal Ballot papers means a higher, valid first preference vote along with any associated   optional preferences.

 And:

Under OPV the party with the highest first preference vote will always have the advantage. And   that's democratic.

A Federal Party government will introduce Optional Preferential Voting (OPV).

 

Randomised Ballot Papers

Ballot papers for the House of Representatives list all candidates in each Federal Electorate from top to bottom. And the order in which they are listed by the Australian Electoral Commission is determined randomly from the top down. So far, so fair. But the candidate who has had the good fortune to end up at the top will attract the "donkey vote" and be advantaged.

To explain further, many voters who have little interest in politics will simply start at the top and mark the boxes 1 down to 10 if there are 10 candidates, giving no thought at all to who the candidates are, or what political parties they represent. Hence, the top candidate will, by default, become the first preference of donkey (couldn't care less) voters.

Unfortunately, the donkey voters will also advantage the top-listed candidate in an OPV system along with advantaging their second or third or fourth or fifth preference candidates if they choose to number that many (or more) boxes.

So, to be fairer to candidates it is important that the order of their appearance on the Ballot paper is shuffled randomly at least another two times, each time excluding the previous top candidate who will automatically go to the bottom of the list and not be included in subsequent shuffles. This will at least give three of the candidates top billing with the distinct possibility of each of the others sitting more attractively in preference order. This system of rotating candidates on Ballot papers has been used successfully in the Tasmanian and ACT elections for many years.

A Federal Party government will introduce randomised Ballot papers.

Four Year Fixed Term Elections

The New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Victorian Legislative Assembly, South Australian House of Assembly, Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, and ACT Legislative Assembly enjoy four year fixed term elections. And here are the reasons why the Australian Parliament should take notice of these States and Territories (also Canada and most of its Provinces).

Advantages of Fixed Term Elections

By setting a fixed (permanent) date for federal elections, Prime Ministers will no longer have the   opportunity to play voters for fools by choosing an election date when the perception of good   government (a short term spike in popularity) may allow a fundamentally bad government to   extend its reign into another term.

Fixed term elections provide certainty for voters and eliminate the game playing (as above) which   annoys 99% of the Electorate, causing not only the Prime Minister but politicians generally to be   distrusted even further.

There is no benefit to the Electorate and no rational reasons why Prime Ministers should be given   the right to nominate election dates whenever it suits them simply to gain false political mileage.

Note that Britain also enjoys the logic of fixed term general elections (albeit every five years) and New Zealand adopts fixed term elections (every three years) moreso as a convention than legislation.

As a first step, a Federal Party government will introduce fixed term elections.

Advantages of Four Year Term Elections

It is not always the case that a majority opinion means that the majority are right; but in the instance of four year terms for federal elections it is hard to ignore the reasons why the States and Territories of Australia (bar Queensland) along with Canada and most of its Provinces have turned their backs on the shorter three year election terms and opted for four year terms. And Britain has taken this matter a step further holding its general elections on a fixed date every five years.

Of greatest importance is that an extra year can allow some new economic policies (in particular)   the necessary time to bed down and begin producing the required results.

But economic policies or otherwise, governments often need to be allowed further time to develop   critical policies and program delivery without the distraction of short term elections.

And a fourth year would make the frequency of elections less annoying for many voters and less   expensive for a tax paying Electorate.

Having already introduced fixed term elections, a Federal Party government will then turn to Australians seeking their approval at a Referendum to extend the existing three year election term to four years.