A democracy’s electoral system is fundamental to its
legitimacy.
If we are to have a legitimate democracy, the people
of Australia have to be engaged and involved with democracy, they are not. And,
there are good reasons why.
The University
of Canberra survey of June 2019, shows that “65% of Australians said they have
little or no interest in politics”.
Many people say that they only vote, because they are
forced to vote.
How do we turn this around?
The Museum of Australian Democracy, and the Institute
for Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra, have begun
the Democracy 2025 campaign to halt the decline in the lack of trust with our
democratic system.
Democracy 2025 say, and I quote, “By 2025 if nothing
is done and current trends continue, fewer than 10 percent of Australians will
trust their politicians and political institutions — resulting in ineffective
and illegitimate government, and declining social and economic wellbeing”. End
quote.
It is not hard to imagine how we got into this
position. But, is it too late to halt the decline in trust?
I’m suggesting that we change to a non-compulsory
voting system. There are many arguments against compulsory voting, such as…
- It’s undemocratic to force people to vote
- You have to vote even if you don’t like anyone on the ballot
- Reports show that Australians are less politically interested than countries that have non-compulsory voting
- Compulsory voting increases the donkey vote
- People leave their
ballot paper blank because they are forced to vote. There were 720,915 informal
votes in the 2016 Federal Election. In the 2019 election, 1.5 million people on
the roll failed to vote. That is the worst result since the mid-1920s
- Plus, It costs more to check for and prosecute people who have not voted
Non-compulsory voting would make politicians more honest. Because, they would have to produce policies that are more relevant to what the voters want.
If Australians did not have to vote, politicians would have to work harder to convince the people who vote, that their policies will be good for the nation. Because the people turning up to vote, they would be the ones with a vested interest in their policies.
An additional point, non-compulsory voting would prove if Australians are as political apathetic as it is said we are. But, I think we know that already.
Voting was voluntary in early federal elections. Compulsory voting for federal elections was introduced in 1925.
The turnout
figures in the early elections were,
1901 - 56.68%
1903 - 50.27%
1906 - 51.48%
1910 - 62.80%
1913 - 73.49%
1917 - 78.30%
1925 – 91.31%
Compulsory voting did increase the number of people who voted, but this is my point, did it make the politics and the policies any better?
The Democracy 2025 campaign is trying to change the perception of our democracy. Some of the key points they aim to foster are,
- rolling out innovative best-practice solutions to the liberal democratic challenges faced across Australia and the Asia-Pacific
- creating active, engaged and informed citizens
- positively influencing democratic leadership, capacity and practice
- promoting excellence and innovation in democratic governance
I’d like to suggest that other than simply changing the perception of our democracy, that the Democracy 2025 campaign, also include an option, to look at non-compulsory voting.
Unquestionably,
non-compulsory voting would provide an immediate indication of how Australians
feel about our democracy. If the turnout figure went down to around 50%, like
it was in the early 1900s, it would indicate that half of us are not interested
in politics. Would it also indicate, that voters see there is no point voting,
because they end up with the same politicians, and the same policies all the
time, regardless of whether they vote or not?
Yes, it would.
So the system needs to change. And, we can start to change the system by making voting non-compulsory.
