By Steve Laing
If you don’t get the reference to the title, it concerns the latest defection, and the reasoning behind it, because Cory Bernardi has finally gone and done it?
My belief (based on reason and logic,), that making such a move would never happen, has been found to be totally wrong. After years of threatening to branch off on his own, he has finally plucked up the courage. He has spent the last three months at the UN in New York and watching first-hand the enthronement of the populist Trump.
And clearly the experience has finally given him the impetus to let go of the Coalition coat-tails and venture out into the real world. Well, at least he has shown he has some cojones.
Will it make any difference? Other than some slight embarrassment to the government, probably not. He will undoubtedly vote like Pauline, in line step with the government. But being on the outside, the stranger of his views can largely be ignored. He is just another cross-bench senator, his political power somewhat diminished, though I am sure he will continue to be a paid up member of sideshow alley.
So why the article?
Because this defection highlights another absurdity within our electoral system, revealing that political party opportunists can manipulate the system so that the electorate gets what the politicians want rather than the other way around.
Bernardi’s senate seat came almost entirely from votes above the line, where electors voted for the Party, not the candidate. Those votes cast for a Liberal have now ended up with whatever Cory calls his new party. And ‘there ain’t diddly squat’ anyone can do about this rather duplicitous sleight of hand. Moreover, it was no secret, with Cory buying the URLs for party names well before the last election. Yet he was still given second place on the Liberal SA senate ticket.
So again, the electorate have been conned, and there is nothing that can be done about it. We now have a new party for those who despair for how the political system is abused by politicians who don’t do what is right by the electorate; which might include politicians campaigning for one party, then jumping ship once elected.
Given the recent below the line voting changes, making it much quicker and simpler, is it now time to get rid of above the line voting? Should not the voter pick the order of senate candidates? The current mechanism only encourages the lazy.
And if there is a significant section of the electorate that doesn’t care and just donkey votes, can’t we give them some voting options. What about, “Don’t know”, “Don’t care”, “They are all a bunch of crooks” and “I would rather disembowel myself with a spoon than vote for any of these cretins”.
At least then our politicians would get an idea how the disillusioned and disenfranchised really feel, rather than pretending that they understand their frustration.
We should abandon preferential voting too. I personally don’t want any part of my vote going beyond the candidate I’d actually voted for. I’d like that to be numerically recognized so that the winning candidate can’t necessarily claim a majority mandate from a 2 party preferred vote. I want to vote for the one I’m prepared to support and no other.
Voting should not be stupidly simple, but should have voting options for people who don’t want to vote. But I do believe there is merit in making electors get down to the polling station and record what they want (or not). I want the electoral truth out there, rather than have candidates falsely claim mandates.
We need electoral reform if voters are to reengage with our democracy. We don’t need another populist party offering hollow promises. People do want their voice heard. Getting rid of above-the-line voting in the senate would be a good start.
