Justice

Australian election highlights the advantages of MMP

By Ant / 27 August 2010

Whatever the final result of the Australian election, the advantage of New Zealand’s proportional voting system MMP is very clear, said the Green Party today.

The outcome of the Australian election is not yet known, because like in the UK earlier this year, the election has resulted in a ‘hung’ parliament. The two major parties together received 78 percent of the vote, and neither of them has a majority.

“New Zealanders can look to the Australian result to see why we need to vote to keep MMP next year,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

The Australian House of Representatives is elected by a preferential voting system, which is not proportional.

“There are significant third parties with over 2.5 million votes who will only pick up a handful of seats because of the unfairness of the ‘winner takes all’ system,” said Mrs Turei.

“Australian voters made clear that neither of the two big biggest parties should govern alone, and there was a huge move to the Greens as a principled party with real solutions.

“We congratulate the Greens on their great polling result, but under the preferential voting system, they will only pick up one seat in the House, despite winning over one million votes.

“Under MMP, there would be a clear and democratic result much sooner. The results in the UK and Australia demonstrate that the days of a two horse race where winner takes all are over,” said Mrs Turei.