There has been a slight glitch in the counting in the central seat of Molonglo in the ACT election. Opposition Leader Wayne Berry has used this in yet another attack on the Hare-Clark system, calling it unfair, inhuman, crazy and lowering the whole standard of government. Earlier he attacked the system because it produced on this occasion a poor result for women.
The election was held only 13 days ago. It is still likely that the result will be known on Monday, 17 days after the election. At the last federal election it took three weeks and five days for the last two seats to be declared, and several more seats took more than three weeks. So what if it takes three weeks to determine beyond doubt who won the seat. It is more important for democracy that confidence in the electoral process is secure than to worry about a few candidates sweating it out a few extra days. Uncertainty is an inevitable part of politics.
Sure, we can have a simpler system and guarantee every seat is decided on election night. We could have 17 single-member seats and voters could put a X against the one candidate they wanted to vote for. Dead simple. But on the votes cast booth-by-booth on February 21 that would have delivered either 15 or 16 Liberal MLAs with an Opposition of one or two Labor MLAs. And next election it could sweep back the other way. That would be crazy and would lower the whole standard of government.
In a relatively small, almost total urban, mobile and relatively homogeneous place like the ACT some form of proportional representation is necessary to prevent modest changes in voting patterns from causing huge changes in seat numbers. Also, unless we want the expense of a second chamber, having the checks and balances of minority government is good thing.
At most, this election has revealed the need for some minor modification of the Robson-rotation element of the Hare-Clark system.