At the time of the last State Election, the Society had criticised the Australian Greens for not having more detail on how they would implement their national policy in this State.

The Greens have now developed a very good Electoral Reform Policy (“Enhancing South Australia’s Democracy”, see http://vote1.sa.greens.org.au/Greens_SA_2010_State_Election_Platform_Dem...).

Specific measures the Greens will take on Parliamentary Reform include “change the make-up of the lower house of State Parliament from single member to multi-member electorates.” This reform is fully supported by the Electoral Reform Society.

In addition to this policy, the Greens have also developed a “Democracy for Sale” website while Mark Parnell has made the best of his opportunities in State Parliament to push for electoral reform. In response to the Society’s request for details to the political parties for their electoral reform policies, Mark has provided specific details on his contribution on the State Government’s attempt to abolish the Legislative Council and to the changes to the Electoral Act where he introduced a number of amendments, stating on September 8, 2009 -

“If the Greens were to amend electoral laws, the first thing they would do is start with the lower house of parliament and introduce a scheme for multimember electorates based on the Hare-Clark system, as used in Tasmania and the ACT.”

While the Society would still like to see more detail, including on local government electoral matters, there is some details that the Society would take issue with such as wanting preferential voting-above-the-line for the Upper House – we want above-the-line voting abolished.

ASSESSMENT 8/10