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Senate Accountability

Reasons for being weak:

1. There is more than one member for the voter to hold accountable. How do we know which of our 12 WA senators to hold accountable if state is poorly represented
2. Complex preferential voting system, the Single Transferrable Vote PR system (STV-PR). Ballot can be a metre long and have almost 100 senators on it.
3. Six year cycle for senators can mean voters can’t react to misconduct of senators regularly and voters can often forget what senators did in between elections.

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Sitting member last campaign

- this form of accountability involves campaigns by pressure groups or minor parties to place sitting members HOR as the last preference on a ballot. This can have a devastating effect on which parties the seats in the house belongs too. It can also undermine a sitting members chances of re-election.
- Candi can give out How to vote cards, and place the sitting member last on the example.

E.G.
Andrew Nikolic lost his seat in the 2016 election for the seat of Bass (TAS) because the GetUp! Groups sent out 90 supporters to hand out How to vote cards. Nikolic lost his seat by ~10%

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2016 election and accountability

- LISA SINGH

A labor senator who was demoted to an unwinnable 6th position. She urged voters to vote below the line and was able to get the quota of votes for a seat in the senate. No senator has ever been elected below the line since the above the line policy came in 1984. She was therefore elected because Tasmania chose her, and not her party.

- ROBERT COLBECK

A Tasmanian liberal senator was also demoted to 5th position, ran below the line campaigns but was not successful. In a poll he was ranked as more popular than the Liberal Party leader for Tasmania who placed him in the unwinnable 5th spot.

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Marginal seat campaigns

- HOR seats contested every three years at elections, keeps the HOR accountable
- MHR’s hold margin of seat but represent whole electorate if elected
- Margin is percentage change in vote from precious election, often referred to as swing needed to change seat
- MARGINAL is when elected candidate received less than 56% of the vote
- A margin can be affected by their party affiliation, speeches, voting behaviour and campaigns against them by their opponents
- Marginal seats may be used by pressure groups to hold members to account for their previous term in office.
P.M.’s and deputy’s will often spend the most time in these electorates during election as they are the ones most in contention.

E.G.
- 2016 Cowan election - Anne Aly won seat over 6 other candidates. Luke Simpkins won greater percentage but after distribution of preferences from other candidates Anne Aly was elected.
- 2016 New England election - independent Tony Windsor who previously held this seat challenged deputy P.M. Barnaby Joyce for his seat. Though Joyce was vulnerable because of electorate dissatisfaction with stance on coal, Joyce managed to maintain his seat

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Equal State Representation

Because there are 12 members it is hard to know which of that 12 to hold accountable if the senators aren’t representing the state effectively

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Malcom Turnbull hungry boy
This is Bill Shorten

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Tony Abbot smiley boyyy

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Pros of the majoritarian system:
- creates strong majorities = strong government

Cons of the majoritarian system:
- can distort the actual judgement of voters by skewing the results in favour of the winner

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Craig Thomson, naughty boy

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Majoritarian Electoral System

1) Explain the term ‘winners bonus’.
The percentage of the total seats won is greater than the percentage of total votes won by the election winner

2) Outline the pros and cons of the majoritarian electoral system.
- Misrepresent the true voting intentions of citizens who are seeking to hold MHRs to account.
- Distort the actual judgement of voters by skewing the results in favour of the winning party.

3) Provide an example where the majoritarian system has been challenged.
- Julia Gillard Governemnt.

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The % of total seats won is greater than the % of total votes won by the election winner

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Clive Palmer
sexii boiiiiiiiii

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Accountablity

Blame Others

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The percentage of the total seats won is greater than the percentage of total votes won by the election winner

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I would place Barnaby under blame others and excuses

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Majoritarian system

1. Amplify small majority of votes into larger majority of seats in Patliament
2. Pros: Usually creates strong majorities, helps for strong governments, stable governments
Cons: minority governments can be created giving minor parties/independents the balance of power (2010 Gillard govt and 2016 Turnbull govt)
3. The 2010 Gillard minority government and the 2016 Turnbull government

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Where would you place Barnaby Joyce on the accountability ladder in relation to his latest political scandal?

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Discuss who uses this type of campaign and why they use it? Which groups in particular have had success with this campaign?

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Explain in no more than 10 dot points with two examples what a marginal seat campaign is and evaluate their success.

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1.  Find pictures of 3 politicians who have been mentioned in this chapter (pg 190 - 197),
2. Post them here; and
3. Write a brief reason why you chose to post this person.

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The Senate has always been known as a States House or House of Review. How is having equal membership by the States in this house an issue for accountability?

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2016 Election and Accountability (pg 194)

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2016 Election and Accountability (pg 194)

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Explain how Lisa Singh and Robert Colbek fought their last placement position on the group voting ticket. Was their strategy successful and explain why or why not?

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Develop an infographic explaining why multi-member electorates are weak. You can create one on:  https://www.canva.com/create/infographics/

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1. Explain the term 'winners bonus'.
2. Outline the pros and cons of the majoritarian electoral system.
3. Provide an example where the majoritarian system has been challenged.