Pioneers and Pariahs: Electoral Reform and Innovation in the Australian States and Territories
摘要
The Australian colonies came together on 1 January 1901 with distinct histories of electoral system experimentation. Since Federation and the subsequent emergence of self-government for the territories, these subnational units have retained extensive control of their electoral systems. Continued electoral innovation at the subnational level has been able to address issues in electoral administration that have arisen in 21st-century society. This chapter explores state electoral innovations that have emerged in 21st-century Australia. Amidst global concerns of electoral disinformation, South Australia’s truth in political advertising law has seen renewed attention both at home and abroad. Political donation reform at the state level has also seen states such as New South Wales and Queensland ban classes on donors and more stringent restrictions than the federal counterpart. Finally, the chapter examines the birth, proliferation and near-extinction of group voting tickets in subnational Upper Houses. In assessing state innovation, subnational politics emerge along a continuum of bold pioneers to recalcitrant pariahs on electoral reform.