TRANSCRIPT:
(This transcript is derived from an automated process. The video recording is authoritative.)
Jewel Burbidge:
This is a presentation by Voting Matters, an organisation dedicated to truth, reason, and reality. In politics, we are apolitical and our sole agenda is to encourage Australians to engage in politics so they can vote responsibly for members of Parliament who form our government in Australia voting to elect federal members of parliament in the House of Representatives and the Senate is compulsory and we use a preferential or preference voting system. Votes are cast in different ways in the two houses, but the method of counting ensures that your vote has the power to make a difference.
To get elected to the House of Representatives, you need an absolute majority that is 50% plus one. Here is a sample ballot from the Australian Electoral Commission, the AEC, and the website showing a correctly filled in ballot correct ballots are known as formal ballots. The instructions are to number the boxes from one to the total number of candidates in this electorate, you vote for your favourite by placing the number one next to their name.
This is known as a primary vote and it is by far the most important choice. Then you choose a second preference of an acceptable person if your favourite gets eliminated in counting. Plus, you continue to rank candidates according to how well they represent your views until you reach the last number. This last choice is equally as important as your primary vote. The person who you consider to be the worst possible choice must go last if you want to hinder their chances. This method is known as ranked voting, and we will illustrate how it extends your vote's influence.
There is an example of an actual candidate's election on the A C'S website as in the link below. In 2010, in the Denison electorate in Tasmania, Andrew Wilke, an independent, was elected despite the competition from the major parties, his primary vote was just 21.26%. He was 28.74% short of victory to get over that magic 50% line. It happened because of preferences.
The election was held and all primary votes were counted with no one reaching an absolute majority. The A LP, which had held a seat for 23 years came closest, but there was still 14.21%. Short second position went to another major party, the liberals closely followed by Andrew Wilke. Then the Greens with the Socialist Alliance.
Last note, the importance of primary votes to any candidate. The candidate with the lowest tally gets eliminated in subsequent counts until somebody gets enough total votes to win. So it's important to get more primaries than others. In this case, the Socialist Alliance had the lowest number, so their second preference votes were distributed.
Take note that despite all candidates handing out how to vote cards, insisting that second preference go to one other candidate of their choosing. The reality shows that voters make up their own mind, and as we can see here, the votes flowed four ways. Remember, you control your vote. So after that distribution, the ALP was still 13.85% short and the other three remained in the same positions.
The ALP under normal circumstances are closely aligned with the Greens, so they were probably hopeful that the next distribution of votes would flow heavily their way. On the third count, the Greens were excluded and this became the knockout blow to the ALPs. Chances unexpectedly, they received less than half the green's preferences and were still 6.23% short. Andrew Wilkee picked up more than half, which catapulted him into second position ahead of the liberals, a major party.
It's possible that local circumstances played a part here because Andrew used to be in the Greens party, but they had parted ways, so he stood as an independent. There may have been a degree of leftover support for him from Greens voters. The lesson for potential candidates in any electorate is to work hard on your electorate to raise your personal profile with voters if they know and like you and what you stand for.
Your chances leap higher on the fourth count, the distribution of preferences from the liberals was no surprise because the ALP and Liberals strongly oppose each other. Almost 80% of the votes from that group preferred Wilke to the ALP. The final result was Wilkie winning by 1.21% or just 787 votes. Consider how he did it. Of the 51.21% he ended up with, he started with the very important primary vote of just 21.1%.
The rest of his votes, almost 30%, came from preferences where the ALP was placed.
Last I repeat, your last preference is equally as important as your primary vote. Please think carefully before you place it. It gives you the power to affect the eventual outcome even if your favourite doesn't win. And also in this election, there were 2,435 informal votes which cannot be counted. Had they been filled incorrectly, there were results could have been dramatically different.
Please don't deliberately make your vote informal by drawing or writing silly things on your ballot. Even if you don't like any of the candidates, you can still get the satisfaction of placing the worst one last. That's democratic power. Now in the Senate, the preference voting system works differently to the House of Representatives. Senators represent an entire state or territory rather than a small electorate. Within it. Its function is to be a house of review.
For legislation to win, you must get a quota, not an absolute majority. This is known as proportional representation. The formula to get a quota is to divide the total number of formal votes for the state or territory by the number of senators being elected at the current election plus one. Then add that result to one. An example is registered voters in Queensland, number approximately 3,685,000. Dividing that by the number of senators to get elected. That is six plus one. Then adding one gives a result of 14.286%, or over half a million votes to get a quota.
In Queensland, that is a consistent percentage in every state, but in the territories where just two senators are elected, it is 33.33%. So how can you do that? Senate preference voting is the goal is to win a quota, but note that in the Senate it is not compulsory to place a number in every box. Instead, you choose to vote exclusively above the line or below the line. Above the line, you preference at least six parties or groups and below the line you preference at least 12 individuals. In my opinion. Below the line is the superior way to choose candidates with conviction.
Voting above the line means ranking political parties or group alliances. If that group gets a quota, the candidate at the top of their ticket will be elected. Any surplus votes are distributed down their candidate list before your next preference. In this instance, there are two extra candidates to receive benefit before your second ranked party. That is why major parties always pre-select six candidates to contain any spillover for their brand. It is also why all their promotions will push for above line voting, but one of your favourite candidate is low down on their party's list.
Voting above the line disadvantages their chances. Instead, if you vote below the line, you get to choose who's going to benefit from your vote. In this instance, the number one vote went to an individual who is second on their party's ticket and who would struggle to get a quota if the vote had been above the line?
Your preferences can now go directly to conviction.
Candidates who support your values no matter where they appear in a party's grouping at voting matters, we consistently advise you to consider the calibre of the character of the candidates. Their job is to review every piece of legislation.
Ask yourself if your vote will support a person who will always place the needs of the electorate first before their own career path. Their parties dictates or outside pressure groups. Also, because you are not required to number every box, you can ignore bad candidates giving them no vote at all.
Remember, voting below the line means that you control the power of your preferences, use your vote's, power with preferences. To summarise in the House of Representatives the primary vote is crucial. You always vote number one for the best candidate so they will survive the counting rounds and vote Number two for the next best option, then rank all other candidates with the worst candidate last.
That's what you do in the House of representative. Pay attention to the primary vote, and particularly the last vote in the Senate. Vote below the line only for quality individuals, give zero votes to bad candidates. And why would you do this? You do this because voting matters.
Vote. It's your right to choose who governs us. Please do it responsibly. Thank you.
