R; SA 17 LiV~~ GC: 7.3' . M
March 1974
NATIONAL BROADCAST
Good evening. I want to talk to you tonight about some basic issues
of democracy, about your fundamental rights as citizens in a free
society. At the Senate elections later this year the Government
will be putting several referendums to the electors. By voting
YES in those referendums you will be doing two things: you will
be giving a new deal to local government, to the local councils
that provide many of our essential services; and you will be CfaI
Aeussttarballiisahnisn, g tfhoer tbhaes icf irdsetm octrimaet, i c anrdi ghftosr oafl l Autsitmer. a lians. All Z
There is no principle more basic to democracy than
that all people should be equal in their rights and freedomsI.
We hear a great deal about gerrymianders in Australia, about
politicians rigging the electoral system to suit their own 6--
interests. And it's unfortunately true that there have been
many examples of this practice in our history. Fo r decades
* in every State there have been wrangling and debate on this
Wquestion. And it's not just the Labor Party that complains;
the electoral laws in Queensland where the Government is dominated
by the Country Party are directed just as much against the Liberals
as they are against Labor. In every State, one party or another
is usually complaining about bias in the electoral system.
The reason for all this wrangling the reason whyv.
politicians can gerrymander electorates for their own purposes
is that there is nothing in the Constitution to stop h.
There is nothinq in the Constitution to guarantee
Parliaments must be elected directly and democratically by the
people. There is nothing to guarantee equal voting rights
for all Australians. So the Government has decided, by means
of these referendums, to allow the people to establish these ktt~ t
rights once and for all. 4
A-
7 ljf. g
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t I~~ prseut.. J n in every mainland
State Parliament, 1 Le : cL c~ -41i. par to gain
a majority of seats even if, after the distribution of preferc-nc
I it has gained much less than a majority of' votes. In every i-ousce
there are cases where some clectoratces cont-ain more than twice as
many pcople as other electorates. That's not democracy; its; nct.
justice. FThere is one House of Parliament -the Legislative
Council of New South Wales that is not elected by the people
at all; its elected by the politicians, some of them about to
retire. And country people suffer as well. as city people.
In Western Australia there are more people in the Pilbara
electorate than there are in any other electorate except one.
In the same way, votes inMount Isa are worth less than votes
Xn Brisbane. So it goes on. To use a good Australian phrase,
the system is crook. It's time we did something about it.
My Government tried to remedy this situation last
year, when we introduced amendments to the electoral laws that
would have made the size of electorates in the national
Parliament pretty much the same; much closer to the ideal
* of equality. The Senate twice rejected our legislation.
SQ we have now resolved to let the people decide this q. uestion.
If our referendums are carried it will mean that every Australian
Parliament State or Federal will be * elected directly by the
people, ahd that in each House-of Parliament any electorate will
have, as nearly as practicable, the same number of people as any
other electorate. We put this emphasis on people because registered
voters are not the only individuals who matter in a democracy;
they are not the only ones whose interests are represented ina
* Parliament. Children have no vote, but children matter;
unnaturalised migrants have no vote, but their interests matter;
many Aborigines choose not to enrol, but their rights and
welfare are important. We belie~ re that in a truly democratic
system all people matter and all people must be treated as
equal. That's the view taken by that great instrument of
democracy the United States Supreme Court. For the past ten
years, the court has ruled that any inequality in the population
of electorates in the Congress-or in the State legislatures is
unconstitutional. In Australia any elector will have tho right
to approach the High Court for a decision on any of ti: c
electoral matters. And let me remind you of this: this
particular proposal will come into operation in July 1976. That
Is, it will be the next House of Representatives and the next
State Parliament which will in each case have to comply with
this new safeguard.
I
I -3-
4v wp'+ to ensure tha-c. 17--ions for the House
of Representatives and the Senate are neid at the same time-
Ji not just when'it suits the Government to hold them toget'her,
but always, In the eleven y'ears from 1961 to 1972 we had eighnt
national elections. That's too many it's inconvenient for
th1e people, it's bad for the working of Parliamenti and it's
too costly. The simple proposition is that elections for t * he
national Parliament should normally be held every three years
aorfni dg hatnasyl waoSyres n aatufotorrh orwbihototy h tooHfoo ku seeiostf hfeitrco eg eHtotuhhserere;. e yenToharir ss wiawlgolon ' toi rt awfsifhleolcr tt entt ahekth* ee--tem
office this year. this safeguard will come into operation
at the House of Representatives elections after next.
Furthermore, we are asking you to approve a proposal
that will make it easier to amend the Constitution in ways that
the majority of the electors approve.. Instead of requiring a
majority of voters in four States to approve a change in the
Constitution, it will be sufficient to have a majority , in
three States provided there is a majority of all the
Australian electors including Territory electors. I remind
you that that change was recommended as far back as 1958 by the
Constitutional Review Committee established by Sir Robert Menzies.
The same committee endorsed the proposal for simultaneous
elections of both Houses of Parliament. They are sensible'
proposals. Let's do something about them.
, Finally, we are asking you to give a new deal to19w
local government. For generations now, local councils have
sleawcekreadg et, h e defciennatn cicaolm murneistoyu rcheesa lttho psreorvviidcee s, b etctheirl d rocaadrse, cebnettr esi* T
and facilities for sport and recreation. These services are
best provided by local authorities, but the Constitution makes
no mention of local government. By agreeing to our
referendum, you will enable the national Government to borrow
money for local. authorities if they wish and top up their
revenuesif they wish. In this way the national Government will
be able to have direct financial dealings with local government
bodies in helping them to do the job for which they were elected.
I know this adds up to a long list of proposals, but
we would not be putting them to you unless we were convinced
of their urgency and importance. Our opponents have not only
resisted our reforms; they have done their best to preveait
you, the people, from deciding these questions for yourselves.
I ask you to keep in mind the basic principle enshrined in
our proposals; their candid and honourable purpose. They go"
beyond party politics to elementary rules of right and justice.
We seek an end to all gerrymanders, by any party, by all
politicians, for all time. I believe deeply, from life-long
conviction, that these reforms will make Australia a more just'
and dbmocratic nation a model of democracy in the eyes of our
neighbours and the world. Goodnight.