Australian Labor Party challenges new electoral boundaries in South Australia
THE Labor Party has launched an unprecedented challenge to a radical redraw of the state’s electoral boundaries, which could delay the selection process for candidates for the 2018 state election.
- Electoral boundaries redraw favours Liberals in key seats
- SA’s new electoral boundaries — the reaction
THE Labor Party has launched an unprecedented challenge to a radical redraw of the state’s electoral boundaries, which could delay the selection process for candidates for the 2018 state election.
Labor Party state secretary Reggie Martin has written to party members revealing he has lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court against the redistribution released earlier this month.
It is the first time the party has taken such action.
The boundaries shake-up shifted almost 400,000 South Australians into different seats and put the Liberal Opposition into pole position to form the next government.
The Liberals, who have long complained the state electoral system is rigged against them, notionally gained four seats on paper that are currently held by Labor.
Mr Martin’s letter argues that the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission had taken a different approach than in past determinations and “departed from the principle that the commission’s aim should be to have the same number of voters in each electorate”.
“The ALP suffered under a gerrymander for more than 30 years in this state and fought a long and hard battle to achieve the principle of one vote, one value,” he writes.
“Equality in the ballot booth finally came when the Dunstan Government was able to enshrine this principle in the state’s Constitution in 1975.
“Any shift away from this principle will mean that voters in some electorates will have a greater say than others as to who the state’s elected representatives will be. This is something the Labor Party cannot accept without challenge.”
Liberal Party state president Steve Murray said launching a legal challenge was “a clear sign that Labor fears being held accountable to the South Australian people under a fair electoral system”.
“The Labor Party is currently failing to keep the lights on, failing to protect our children, failing to provide essential services and we now have the worst unemployment rate in the nation,’ he said.
“Instead of tackling the important issues it is choosing court action in a desperate attempt to cling to power.
“They’re the laziest and most incompetent government this state has seen and they are whingeing that someone hasn’t handed them the next election on a platter.”
Mr Murray said the Liberal Party felt the redistribution was fair and “for the first time in many years” ensured that “either party can win Government by achieving one vote more than 50 per cent of the two-party preferred vote”.
The total number of voters shunted into new seats as a result of the redraw was 398,710 — compared to just 89,000 moved in 2012.
The huge change will reduce the traditional advantage for incumbent MPs.
The Liberal Party has opened nominations for candidates for some seats but Labor is yet to open preselections.
Mr Martin said he hoped the challenge could be heard early next year, but it may not be until February.
This could delay the candidate selection process and leave voters with less time to assess those running in their electorate.
According to the state’s unique and complex electoral laws, the commission revised the boundaries so that a clear majority of 27 seats would fall on the conservative side of State Parliament if every person voted the same way in March 2018 as they did at the ballot box in 2014.
Parties must win at least 24 seats to govern in their own right in SA.