Bills

Constitution (One Vote One Value) Amendment Bill

Standing Orders Suspension

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:24): I move:

That standing orders be so far suspended as to enable the introduction forthwith of the Constitution (One Vote One Value) Amendment Bill.

Motion carried.

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:24): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Constitution Act 1934. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:25): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Constitution (One Vote One Value) Amendment Bill 2017 proposes to amend section 77 of the Constitution Act 1934. After each general election, the Electoral District Boundaries Commission (commission) commences proceedings for the purposes of making an electoral redistribution. The guiding principle for that redistribution is found in section 77 of the Constitution Act, which is headed 'Basis of redistribution'.

Section 77 currently provides that a redistribution shall be made upon the principle that the number of electors comprised in each electorate must not, as at the relevant date, vary from the electoral quota by more than the permissible tolerance. The permissible tolerance is 10 per cent. The relevant date is a date prior to the making of the redistribution order.

The bill will delete current section 77 and replace it with a new paramount principle for the making of an electoral redistribution. The new paramount principle to which the commission must have regard is that the number of electors in each electoral district should be equal at polling day. This principle is not modified or watered down by a notion of tolerance. The commission must aim for numerical equality of electors across districts, or one vote one value. Proposed new section 77(2) expressly provides that the new paramount principle prevails over the provisions of section 83 of the Constitution Act, which sets out other considerations that the commission is, as far as practicable, to have regard to in making an electoral redistribution.

The primary reason for the change is as follows. In 2016, the commission departed from the approach that it had taken in previous years when making a redistribution. Prior to the 2016 redistribution, the commission focused on numerical equality of electors when making redistributions and sought to achieve an outcome whereby the number of electors in each district was as near as practicable to the projected quota at the time of the election. The 2007 commission sought to ensure that the number in each district was 'as near as practicable to the projected quota'. The 2012 commission sought to 'ensure that districts are as near as practicable to the projected quota at the time of the election'.

The 2016 commission took a different approach. It used the 10 per cent permissible tolerance in section 77(1) of the Constitution Act to try to address what the commission described as the 'innate imbalance, against the Liberal Party, caused by voting patterns in South Australia upon which have been imposed successive redistributions'. The government considers that the use of the 10 per cent permissible tolerance in this manner erodes the principle of 'one vote one value'. This government is firmly of the view that the commission should strive to achieve, to the extent possible, numerical equality of electors in each district at polling day, that is, to achieve one vote one value.

This bill seeks to reinforce in the Constitution Act the key democratic principle that each elector's vote at the ballot box should carry equal weight. Section 83 of the Constitution Act (the fairness clause) is neither amended nor repealed. Having regard to section 88 of the Constitution Act, if the parliament passes this bill, it needs to be approved by voters at a referendum. The Referendum (One Vote One Value) Amendment Bill provides for this. I commend the bill to members. I seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted into Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

This clause is formal.

2—Commencement and operation

The measure will need to be submitted to a referendum under the proposed Referendum (One Vote One Value) Act 2017.

3—Amendment provisions

This clause is formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Constitution Act 1934

4—Amendment of section 77—Basis of redistribution

Section 77 is substituted—new subsection (1) provides that the paramount principle that the Commission must apply in making an electoral redistribution is that the number of electors in each electoral district should (as at the first polling day for which the order is to be effective) be equal.

New subsection (2) provides that section 83 is subject to the paramount principle set out in section 77(1).

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.