State Elections (One Vote, One Value) Bill 2001 [2002]
First Reading

1998-1999-2000-2001

The Parliament of the

Commonwealth of Australia

THE SENATE

Presented and read a first time

State Elections (One Vote, One Value) Bill 2001

No. , 2001

(Senator Murray)

A Bill for an Act to implement Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights so that elections for State legislatures shall be by equal suffrage

Contents

1       Short title 1

2       Commencement 1

3       Interpretation 2

4       Equal suffrage 2

5       Standing for judicial review 2

6       Application 3

A Bill for an Act to implement Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights so that elections for State legislatures shall be by equal suffrage

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

1 Short title

        This Act may be cited as the State Elections (One Vote, One Value) Act 2001.

2 Commencement

        This Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

3 Interpretation

        In this Act:

quota of voters for each electorate means, in relation to a particular election for a House of Parliament of a State, the number of voters determined by dividing the total number of voters predicted to be enrolled in the State 4 years after the election by the number of electorates for that House in the State.

State includes the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.

4 Equal suffrage

        A House of Parliament of a State shall be directly chosen by the people of the State voting in electorates as nearly equal in size as possible but, in any case, not varying by more than 15% from the quota of voters for each electorate for that House with any variation between the size of electorates to have regard to the community of interest of the electorate including:

       (a) the means of communication with, and its distance from, the capital city of the State; and

       (b) the geographical features of the area; and

       (c) any existing regional boundaries, including local government boundaries.

5 Standing for judicial review

       (1) The following are entitled to bring an action under this Act in a court of competent jurisdiction:

       (a) a registered political party;

       (b) a member of the House of Parliament to which the action relates.

       (2) Subsection (1) does not limit the right of any other person under the law of the Commonwealth (including the common law) to bring an action under this Act.

6 Application

        This Act applies to any State election held more than 6 months after commencement.