Switzer Daily
3 February 2021
The time has come for me to make my Australian political
predictions for the next eighteen months, beginning with election dates. The
first point to note is that the federal elections are, technically speaking,
the fourth most proximate. The most proximate is the general election for all
members of Western Australia’s Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.
The fixed date is 13 March 2021. The second most proximate is the general
election for all members of South Australia’s House of Assembly and half its
Legislative Council. Those elections will be held on 19 March 2022. The point
is that there are Constitution Acts in both states with WA fixing its date as the
MALCOLM MACKERRAS
THE ACT election on October 17 was the tenth election for the Legislative Assembly under self-government.
Psephologist Malcolm Mackerras says the odds are “distinctly against” the Liberals winning three seats in Yerrabi.
The 25 members were elected under a proportional representation system. Given that PR is very common in Australia for upper houses but equally rare for lower houses why is it that all 10 ACT elections have been held under PR systems?
The explanation is simple. The Liberal Party refused to contemplate the conventional Australian system of single-member electoral districts because it feared Labor would win every seat. That could have happened. So, without PR the ACT would not have had self-government.