The Queensland Electoral System and Indigenous Representation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600003925Keywords:
Queensland electoral system, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation, Queensland Legislative AssemblyAbstract
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represent more than 3 per cent of the Queensland population, but only one Aboriginal person has so far been elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly. (Mr Eric Deeral was the National Party member for Cook from 1974 to 1977.) This fact suggests that the Indigenous population and minorities in general do not have much influence on government in Queensland. Questions therefore arise as to why and what can be done to address this deficiency.
References
LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report, Committee Inquiry, Legislative Assembly of Queensland (September 2003): 7. Parliamentary Committee Inquiry Hands on Parliament ‘recommends a range of achievable and workable strategies to enhance the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland's democratic processes’. In LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report: 1.
LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report: 6.
Singleton, John et al. , Australian Political Institutions (Sydney: Pearson Educational, 2003): 233.
Costar, Bob, ‘Electoral Systems’, in Woodward, D. et al. . (eds), Government, Politics and Power in Australia (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1985): 191.
Singleton et al. : 235.
Singleton et al. : 235.
Costar: 190.
LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report: 6.
Queensland Electoral System, www.Parliament.qld.gov.au/history
Dividing the state into zones was purportedly done to ‘prevent an overwhelming influence in the capital city from at any time developing in the government of the country’. It was to make sure that there would be a majority of the representatives of the people outside the capital city. But as the government divided the zones in order to win the elections, it did not result in a fair system. In Electoral and Administrative Review Commission, Report on Queensland Legislative Assembly Electoral System, Volume 1 (EARC Report) (November 1990): 17.
Precis of Queensland State Election Results 2001, www.Parliament.qld.gov.au/Parlib/Parl_Information/Elections/Results.htm
Stevens, Bron ‘Reform of the State Electoral System’, in Stevens, B. Wanna, J. (eds), Goss Government: Promise and Performance of Labor in Queensland (Melbourne: Macmillan Education, 1993): 117.
ALP, 1984, in Stevens: 118.
Report, Fitzgerald, 1989:127, quoted in Stevens: 119.
Stevens: 119.
EARC Report.
EARC Report: 125.
EARC Report: 78.
EARC Report: 78.
Torres United Party, in EARC Report: 77.
EARC Report: 82.
Queensland Electoral System, www.Parliament.qld.gov.au
Lake, Marilyn, Faith: Faith Bandler, Gentle Activist (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2002): 67.
Lake: 67.
Coombs, H.C., Trial Balance (South Melbourne: Macmillan, 1981): 7.
Coombs: 7.
Nettheim, Garth, ‘Discrimination and the Law’, in Nettheim, G. (ed.), Aborigines, Human Rights and the Law (Sydney: Australia and New Zealand Book Co, 1974: 15–16.
Reilly, Alex, ‘Dedicated Seats in Federal Parliament for Indigenous Australians: The Theoretical Case and its Practical Possibility’, Balayi: Culture Law and Colonialism, 2(1) (2001: 79.
Seas and Submerged lands Case — NSW v the Commonwealth (1975) 135 CLR 338, quoted in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) 175 CLR 1, per Brenman J at 31, in Reilly: 80.
LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report: 2.
LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report: 59.
Government response to the LCARC Report: 4.
Mathew Soberg Shugart and Rein Taagepera, Seat and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1989); Wilma Rule and Joseph Zimmermann (eds), Electoral Systems in Comparative Perspective: Their Impact on Women and Minorities (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994): 34.
Rule and Zimmermann: 34.
Shugart and Taagepera: 43; Rule and Zimmermann: 34.
LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report: 59.
Carling, Joan, ‘Summary — Strategies — Recommendations’, in Wessendorf, K. (ed.), Challenging Politics: Indigenous Peoples’ Experiences with Political Parties and Elections (Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2001): 279.
Carling: 279.
Farrell, David, Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction (New York: Palgrave, 2001): 97.
Boston, Jonathan et al. ., Governing under Proportional Representation (Wellington: Oxford University Press, 1996): 16.
Boston, et al. : 16.
Boston, et al. : 20.
Boston, et al. : 20.
Boston, et al. : 20.
Boston, et al. : 20.
Boston, et al. : 23.
Royal Commission on the Electoral System (1986); Catherine J. Iorns Magallanes, ‘Dedicated Parliamentary Seats for Indigenous Peoples: Political Representation as an Element of Indigenous Self-Determination’, in E Law — Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, 10(4) (December 2003), www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v10n4/iorns104.html, 2003: 6.
Magallanes: 6.
Magallanes: 7.
Inquiry into the Review of MMP, Report of the MMP Review Committee, Presented to the House of Representatives (August 2001): 19.
The reports of speeches in the Dominion Post on Jan.24 2003, p A2. In Magallanes: 6.
Report of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System (1986): 102.
Magallanes: 7.
The Economist (US), 341(7988), 10 October 1996: 62, www.Parliament.qld.gov.au/library
The Economist (US), 341(7988), 19 October 1996: 62, www.Parliament.qld.gov.au/library
Boston, et al. : 1.
Boston, et al. : x.
Boston, et al. : x.
Boston, et al. : xi.
Boston, et al. : xi.
Smyth, Rosaleen, The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population, Research Paper No. 4, www.aic.gov.au/publications/other/dic1992/4.pdf], 1989: 20.
Catley, Bob, Waltzing with Matilda: Should New Zealand Join Australia? (Wellington: Dark Horse Publishing, 2001): 123; 2001 Census Data indicates almost 15 per cent. In Statistics New Zealand information on Te Puni Kokiri website (www.tpk.govt.nz; Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001 (www.abs.gov.au).
LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report: 56.
LCARC, Hands on Parliament Report: 56.
Catley: 125.
Catley: 125.
Catley: 126.
Richova, Blanka, Komparace politickych systemu I (Prague: VSE, 1999): 60.