One vote, one value

In Australia, one vote, one value is a democratic principle widely valued in Australia and applied in electoral laws governing redistributions of electoral divisions of the House of Representatives whereby the divisions have the same number of enrolled voters, within a specified percentage of variance. The electoral laws of the Commonwealth for the House of Representatives and all states follows the principle with some exceptions.

For the House of Representatives, the present maximum variance (tolerance) is 10% above or below the mean when districts are first drawn, or 3.5% half way through the expected life of the map.[1]

While all states (other than Tasmania) historically had some form of malapportionment, electoral reform in recent decades resulted in an electoral legislation and policy framework based on "one vote one value". However, in the Western Australian and Queensland Legislative Assemblies, seats covering areas greater than 100,000 square kilometres (38,600 sq mi) may be drawn with fewer electors than the general tolerance would allow.[2][3]

The 1988 Australian referendum included a proposal which aimed to enshrine the principle within the Australian Constitution.[4] It was not carried.

See also

References

  1. ↑ COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918, section 73(4)
  2. ↑ http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_act/ea1907103/s16g.html/
  3. ↑ http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/ea1992103/s45.html/
  4. ↑ Singleton, Gwynneth; Don Aitkin; Brian Jinks; John Warhurst (2012). Australian Politcal Institutions. Pearson Higher Education AU. p. 271. ISBN 1442559497. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
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