ELECTORAL (OPTIONAL PREFERENTIAL VOTING) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 5 April 2012.)

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (11:27): I oppose the bill. This bill would replace the current preferential voting system, effectively for full or compulsory preferential voting, with a form of optional preferential voting. The bill would replace section 76(1)(a) and (2) of the Electoral Act with new provisions. The existing provisions require an elector when voting below the line in an election for the other place or when voting in the House of Assembly to indicate on the ballot papers his or her order of preference for all candidates.

The proposed provisions provide that the elector need not indicate his or her order of preference for all candidates, rather the elector must indicate his or her preferences by (as now) placing the number one next to the candidate's name in the relevant square on the ballot paper. The elector may, in elections for the House of Assembly, then indicate his or her preference for all or some of the other candidates by placing the number two and consecutive numbers in the squares opposite their names but need not do so. It would be optional for the elector to indicate his or her preferences for some or all of the other candidates. In elections for another place, the voter need only place the number of candidates required to be elected.

The government supports the retention of the present compulsory preferential system for both the House of Assembly and the other place as it has its advantages over the optional preferential model that is proposed. First, the introduction of the optional preferential voting would apply only to state elections. Compulsory preferential voting would continue to apply to federal polls and electors would have to vote under two different systems in federal and state elections. This would only add to voter confusion and increase the informal vote, which is indeed high in my electorate.

This question was examined by the Electoral Matters Committee in Victoria as part of its Inquiry into Voter Participation and Informal Voting in Victoria in 2009. After considering submissions, the committee did not recommend the introduction of optional preferential voting in Victorian lower house elections due to concerns that it would lead to voter confusion at Victorian federal and local government elections and an increase in informal voting in all areas and rates.

There is no likelihood of an introduction of optional preferential voting at a federal election in any foreseeable future. Optional preferential voting was considered in the federal arena by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in the commonwealth parliament in its 2004 report into the 2004 federal election. The committee identified both benefits and detriments of optional preferential voting and, after considering all submissions, recommended that compulsory preferential voting be retained in both houses of federal parliament.

Secondly, for house elections, compulsory preferential voting ensures that only the candidate preferred by the majority of electors (either on primary votes or after the distribution of preferences) can be elected. The same cannot be said about optional preferential voting. The current system requires a candidate to obtain a majority of 50 per cent plus one of the valid votes cast to win a seat. If, at the first count, no candidate has gained more than 50 per cent of the vote, the candidate with the lowest number of preferences is eliminated, as we all know.

The second preferences indicated on the ballot paper are then distributed. This process of excluding the candidate with the least number of votes, then distributing his or her preferences, continues until one candidate obtains 50 per cent plus one of the votes. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.