Comment on [Discussion] What level of proportional representation is desirable?

• CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Yes. The upper house is supposed to be proportional and yet it suffers from the same unbalanced outcomes. Each state currently has the same number of senators despite population differences. This results in smaller states being overrepresented while larger states are underrepresented. Both Tassie and Victoria have 12 senators, yet a Tasmanian senator represents ~34,000 voters, while a Vic senator represents ~380,000, once again making a lightly populated state’s vote ten times more valuable than a heavily populated one.

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  • MisterFrog@aussie.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Can agree with you on that point. Seems like a hangover from federation that the smaller states receive more representation.

    Doesn’t really make sense in our modern, highly interconnected world to have some states have better representation per capita than others.

    I think a unicameral system would not be popular in Australia though, because you’d largely remove local members (unless you switch to something like what NZ has, but with preferential voting for the local candidates). Hence why I advocate for local multi-member electorates in the lower house to improve representation of more parties, and retaining the senate.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts friend!

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