St George of the Garden wrote on Mar 21
st, 2014 at 8:39am:
What you have here is a result of single member electorates and canny campaigning. I also pointed out real gerrymanders that have taken place, people disenfranchised.
I have suggested methods that fix that.
Indeed .. 1962 SA Election - Labor won 54% of the PRIMARY vote, Liberal and Country League 34.5% - Liberal and Country League win election.
Now THAT was a real gerrymander - the Playmander.
The problem for the Liberals in SA is that their voters tend to be concentrated in safe seats. Packing of voters is a gerrymander technique, but if it happens because the voters themselves actually choose to pack themselves then it is difficult to devise a fair system of single-member electorates that can overcome this.
Perhaps it's time for SA to change to multi-member electorates. Safe seats for either party will tend to become part of seats that elect multiple members of that party, and people would have more choice of candidates. The downside is the need for more governments to govern in a coalition because majority governments will become relatively rare.
Current system: 47 single-member seats, 22 senators elected state wide with 11 contesting each election.
My proposals:
(1) 48 members elected in 8 seats returning 6 members each, 22 or 24 senators elected the same way they are now.
(2) 45 members elected in 9 seats returning 5 members each, 22 senators elected the same way they are now.
Quote:OH—one other suggestion. Tell your idiot party that attacking independents is not a good way to go because at some stage you might need them.
In the federal sphere the Rudd govt had treated Windsor and Oakeshott with respect from day one. Guess which party these two fine Independents supported?
In SA the position is the same. Brock and Such will support Labor because unlike the Libs Labor never denigrated or attacked them. So eat your lemon and reflect why you are doing so.
The Liberals have been shooting themselves in the foot a lot lately regarding independents. They need to treat them with more respect. Rather than going around wailing loudly that the independent is occupying a seat instead of a Coalition member, they should adopt the attitude that at least the seat isn't occupied by a Labor member. It will work so much better in the event that the Liberals need to curry the independent's favour.