Thread: Lib Dems
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Unread 28 Feb 2008, 14:30   #45
Ultimate Newbie
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Re: Lib Dems

Quote:
Originally Posted by All Systems Go
Isn't the point though, that PR (as demonstrated by countries with PR) won't stop the political system 'spewing crap'? Therefore, it is a waste of energy when there are more worthwhile causes.
The results vary based on location. Further, i think that some of the main benefits of PR are less tangible - sure, politicians will still be politicians, and the current media is pretty shit too, but that isnt the fault of the electoral system.

You wont know what benefits (and costs too, i suppose) you can have until you adopt PR.

In Australia, the lower house (House of Reps) uses what we call a Preferential system (i think its technically an Instant Runoff or something like that), such a system yields a strong two-party kind of result. However, in the Senate, proportional representation is used, the result being that minor parties such as the Greens, (formally) the Australian Democrats, and One Nation/Family First (examples of extreme left, centre and extreme right parties respectively) manage to get representation within the upper house.

The result is that the upper house is (usually) not a rubber stamp for prevailing government policy, rather one (or more) of the minor parties hold the "balance of power" in the senate. When the GST was introduced to Australia, the influence of the Democrats (for better or worse) was that basic food items were not taxed. When the Liberal Party (ie, Conservative) won a massive majority in the 2005 election and gained control of the senate, legislation such as WorkChoices (which essentially denied any rights of Workers to compensation for leave/sick/unfair dismissal/long service and others from a "small business" employer, which the ABS defines as 100 employees or less, heh). Thus, in Britain, you would have got the crap (Workchoices), without the potential benefit of third/other party scrutiny (GST), that the PR system helped facilitate indirectly in Australia.

So, the impact of PR might not be so clear cut.
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