Changing Electoral Structures and Regional Representation in Western Australia

From Countrymindedness to One Vote One Value

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12564652
AutoresAmanda Davies (0000-0003-1892-9128, The University of Western Australia, autor correspondente), Matthew Tonts (0000-0002-3086-3793, The University of Western Australia)
Ano2007
Volume11
Fascículo3
Páginas209-225
Data de publicação2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSpace and Polity (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1356-2576 • E-ISSN: 1470-1235
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13562570701811544
OpenAlexW2001451868
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas19

Electoral systems in Australia have a long history of favouring rural voters over those living in cities. These systems of electoral malapportionment have their origins in the 19th and early 20th centuries when rural Australia was the driving-force behind the nation's economy. The widespread view was that, without strong political representation, those areas generating the nation's wealth might be left behind at the expense of the city. Nowhere were malapportionment and the accompanying set of ‘countryminded’ values more entrenched than in Western Australia. Since 1890, a system has endured whereby rural votes are, in real terms, worth nearly twice those of metropolitan votes. Only recently has legislation been passed introducing the principle of ‘one vote one value’. This paper examines the transformation of the electoral system in Western Australia, focusing on the socio-political conditions that gave rise to, and sustained, vote weighting, before considering the range of factors that contributed to its demise

Demise · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Electoral geography · Electoral system · Geography · Legislation · Metropolitan area · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Value (mathematics · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Rural development and sustainability