As Australia heads to the polls in 2025 – almost certainly in the first half this year – the topic of possible reforms to the federal electoral system should continue to feature in public debate.
Why? Because the current system is far from perfect – and this is a point which is quietly accepted by insiders in Australia’s major political parties.
While the over-representation of Tasmania in the Senate (or upper house) and the under-representation of the Australian Capital Territory in this chamber has been discussed on occasions during this current term of Parliament, as has moving to fixed four-year terms (which are now entrenched across almost all states and territories), there is one significant – and potentially uncontroversial – electoral reform which is worth pursuing in the short-term. It involves the filling of vacancies in Parliament’s House of Representatives (or lower house).
At present, when a vacancy arises in the House of Representatives, a by-election must be held to determine who the next member of the seat (or seats) in question will be. However, there is one circumstance when this happens which stands out where a change should be considered.
It’s when a member of the House of Representatives passes away. When this happens, it makes no sense to send voters in the affected seat to the polls and impose unnecessary costs on taxpayers to hold a by-election. Candidates and/or their parties contesting such a by-election are also saddled with unnecessary costs.
It should be kept in mind that in the past, when a sitting member has passed away, there have been very few occasions where the subsequent by-election has resulted in a change in party representation in a seat. The major reason for this is that, by and large, voters understand the non-controversial nature of the need for a by-election and most of them vote the same way as they did at the most recent general election.
The simple and most effective change would be to abolish the need for a by-election in a seat where a sitting member has passed away. Similar to what already happens when a vacancy occurs in the Senate, if a member passes away, the process of ensuring there is a replacement member in the House of Representatives should be: whichever political party the deceased member was a member of is able to nominate a replacement, to be ratified by the relevant state or territory Parliament (a good tripwire). In the event that the member who passes away is an independent, a by-election could still be held. Alternatively, it could be left to the state or territory Parliament in which the electorate is located to nominate an independent replacement, according to an agreed process.
The saving of time and money would be significant, and our democracy would not be compromised. In fact, it would almost certainly be strengthened.
Therefore, if constitutional change is required for such a change, then there is a good chance such a referendum question would be successful.
Another related area of reform could be Senators and members of Parliament who are elected as a representative of a political party or as an independent, but change who they are representing during a Parliamentary term. But that’s a debate for another time!
– By Hamish Arthur