Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
since 1988, during which time the Council has largely exercised parliament’s roles
of reviewing legislation, scrutinising the executive and holding it accountable. 17
The electoral framework
The questions of who should vote and be eligible to stand for the NSW parliament
were largely settled by the early 20th century. In 1858, all males aged 21 and
over who were British subjects resident in the colony for three years and not in
receipt of charity were enfranchised. A requirement, abolished in 1893, that a voter
had to reside in his electorate for six months disqualified many potential voters,
including large numbers of itinerant workers. Women had to wait until 1902 to
gain the vote, until 1918 to be able to stand for the Legislative Assembly, and
until 1926 to be eligible for the Legislative Council. Indigenous people have always
had the same formal voting rights as others in NSW, although the residential and
charity disqualifications led to much Indigenous disenfranchisement. Compulsory
enrolment was introduced in 1921 and compulsory voting in 1928. The voting age
was reduced to 18 years in 1973. 18
Methods of electing representatives have been subject to greater variation,
asgovernmentshavesoughttogainelectoraladvantageorreverseanadvantage
enjoyed by their predecessors. Until 1910, NSW had used plurality (‘first-past-thepost’)
ballots in single-member districts to elect the Assembly. Rapid experimentation
took place from 1910 to 1928, with second round ‘run-off ’ elections,
proportional preferential voting in multi-member electorates, optional preferential
voting (OPV) in single-member electorates and, finally, full preferential voting
in single-member electorates. The latter system was retained until 1979, when
the Wran Labor government provided for OPV in single-member districts. This
method has continued since, allowing voters to allocate preferences to as many or
as few candidates as they wish. 19
Since 1978, Legislative Council elections have used OPV, with ‘above-the-line’
or ‘group ticket’ voting introduced from 1988 to simplify the process. The rules
aboutupperhousepreferenceshavebeenalteredovertimetoreflectchangesinthe
size of the Council and to prevent minor parties with little support being elected. 20
The boundaries of individual Assembly seats have long been drawn independently
of governments. Legislation in 1893 instituted an Electoral Commission,
consisting of public servants, to draw up the electoral boundaries. It also created
a regular process to review them. In 1928, the position of electoral commissioner
was established to head the Electoral Office. The electoral commissioner replaced
17 Clune and Griffith 2006; Smith 2006; Smith 2012b.
18 Clifford, Green and Clune 2006; Parker 1978; Twomey 2004.
19 Clifford, Green and Clune 2006; Smith 2003.
20 Green 2012.
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