Page 1246 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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that were well short of a quota. If you are voting only 1, 2, 3, it is pretty inevitable that a lot of people might do that, and you would end up with a lot of votes petering out well before a quota is achieved. In those circumstances there is criticism of the people who get elected under that system because they have fallen well short of a quota.
In Tasmania, in 1973, they decided to fix the problem. There were two ways in which they could have fixed it. They could have either tightened up the provisions dealing with exhaustion or tightened up the provisions dealing with formality. They chose the latter course. They decided to impose a rule which says, "You have to number seven squares in order to cast a formal vote - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7". That is how they fixed it. But you can see that you have to have a close connection between these two things; formality and exhaustion go hand in hand in a sense. If we have very relaxed formality provisions, we must have appropriate exhaustion provisions to protect those votes. That is the point of these amendments.
Question put:
That the amendments (Mr Humphries's) be agreed to.
The Assembly voted -
AYES, 8 NOES, 7
Mrs Carnell Mr Berry
Mr Cornwell Mr Connolly
Mr De Domenico Ms Ellis
Mr Humphries Ms Follett
Mr Moore Mr Lamont
Mr Stevenson Ms McRae
Ms Szuty Mr Wood
Mr Westende
Question so resolved in the affirmative.
Mr Humphries: Madam Speaker, Mrs Grassby and Mr Kaine are paired.
Sitting suspended from 6.40 to 7.30 pm
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (7.30): I move Government amendment No. 87, which reads:
87. Page 148, lines 24 to 26, proposed new Schedule 4, subclause 1(2), omit the subclause.
This amendment arises as a consequence of our having dropped the above-the-line voting system.
Amendment agreed to.
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