National Party accused of deceit on voting reform

23/08/01
Electoral Affairs Minister Jim McGinty says the National Party should stop deceiving country people about the Government's move to give everyone in Western Australia an equal say in electing their Government.

"Max Trenorden's scare-mongering has only one goal - to try to convince country people that WA should retain a system of blatant vote-rigging so the National Party can hang on to its few remaining seats," Mr McGinty said.
"He ignores the fact that the electoral laws of every other State and Territory and the Commonwealth have already adopted the principle of equal voting rights without any dire impact on country people.
"His entire argument against giving all citizens in WA an equal say in electing their Government is that country MPs would have to drive too far if they had larger electorates."
Mr McGinty said Mr Trenorden's picturesque rural electorate of Avon, with its rolling valleys leading on to the Darling Scarp an hour or so from Perth, had just 13,408 electors at the last election.
"To give everyone an equal say in electing their government - which is the principle on one vote, one value - Mr Trenorden would have to represent about 21,000 electors," he said.
"He says that's too hard and country people will be disadvantaged. Perhaps he should speak to the Member for Wanneroo who presently represents over 39,000 electors due to the vote-rigging in country areas.
"Every electorate has its own set of complex issues that local MPs need to be on top of - from drought or economic pressures in some country regions through to drugs, crime, inner-city violence and homelessness in the metropolitan area.
"The workload is not ruled by distance travelled, and Mr Trenorden's arguments are simplistic nonsense. Country people need good representation, not more of it."
Mr McGinty said he would be interested to hear from any city-based Opposition MPs who felt their job was easier because there was less mileage, despite representing two, three or even four times as many constituents as their country colleagues.
"I would also like to hear how Mr Trenorden justifies people in major country cities like Bunbury, Albany, Mandurah, Kalgoorlie and Geraldton having twice the say in electing their Government as people living in Perth," he said.
"How does he justify the people of Mandurah having their vote weighted to give them twice the say of people living in Rockingham, which is right next door?
"Mr Trenorden knows the vote-weighting in WA is absolutely corrupt and cannot be justified.
"Country people would be far better served if he explained the issues factually and offered credible alternatives if he doesn't like what we have proposed."

Mr McGinty said it presently took on average 13,409 people to elect one Member of Parliament in the country, compared with 25,860 people - almost twice as many - to elect one MP in the metropolitan area.
Under the Government's reforms, all electorates in the State would consist of approximately 21,000 electors, except in a small number of very large and remote electorates where a smaller quota would be used to acknowledge their special circumstances.
Media contact: Amanda O'Brien on 9220 5000