Page 1244 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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MS SZUTY (6.30): This has been a quite complex and difficult argument, I believe, for members of this chamber to make a decision on. It has been an issue that Mr Moore and I have been looking at for some time. I think Mr Humphries put the arguments in favour of the amendment very well. He indicated that in Malta and Ireland, where the Hare-Clark electoral system is in place, and optional preferential voting is also in place, this is the method of counting votes that applies. We know that in Tasmania that is not the case. Tasmania does not have optional preferential voting.
Ms Follett, when she responded to the issues put forward by Mr Humphries, referred to the statement on page 2 of the referendum options description sheet. I have revisited that matter this evening and I have underlined the segment that Ms Follett read out earlier. It reads:
Seats will then be allocated to the candidates using the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation, as used at elections for the Tasmanian House of Assembly ...
Mr Moore, in his remarks, qualified that quote quite appropriately by reading out the four indented paragraphs which refer to the dot point where that statement is contained.
Ms Follett also made the point that, if this counting and transfer vote system is adopted, the effective value of some electors' ballot-papers will be increased above others. That is a concern that I have had, Madam Speaker. In fact I have put the question quite openly. Are voters advantaged if they write more numbers on ballot-papers, extending from 1 to 5, and from 1 to 7, as the requirements will be according to the ballot-paper that we adopted earlier tonight? I have some concern about that. I have some concern that electors will feel that, the more numbers they put on the ballot-paper, perhaps the more advantage they will have over other voters who vote 1 to 5 in electorates where there are five seats available, and 1 to 7 where there are seven seats available. I do not believe that I have resolved that issue.
Mr Moore, when mentioning page 2 of the referendum options description sheet, also mentioned the very obvious link between the schedule that Mr Humphries has proposed and the optional preferential voting system. He also mentioned the briefings that we have received about the possible anomalies and distortions which can arise through the application of the system that Mr Humphries has described this evening.
On balance, Madam Speaker, I think it is an extraordinarily difficult decision for members of this Assembly to make. The argument that has persuaded me in the end to support Mr Humphries's amendment on this occasion is a statement which is contained on page 5 of the referendum options description sheet. It talks about the case for the proportional representation Hare-Clark system and says:
Under Hare-Clark, wasted votes are avoided. Surplus votes are transferred to others.
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