Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 225
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Postal voting was reinstated in the 1960s. It had been abolished by the McGirr
Government (in the 1949 amendment to the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections
Act), except for people who lived more than five miles from a polling booth. In August
1959 the situation in respect of voting in State elections was that persons who within
seven days of election day became too ill at home to attend a polling booth were
deprived of their votes, and persons who were out of State or in uncontested electorates
and lived within five miles of a polling booth were similarly treated; with no provision
being made for those who were overseas or who were on the high seas. Effectively,
thousands of people were denied the right to vote owing to restrictions imposed on
postal voting. By 1962 the situation had not changed significantly. The only persons
entitled to receive a postal vote were those whose place of living, as appearing on the
electoral roll, was situated more than five miles by the nearest practicable route from
each and every polling place which would be open on polling day, in the Electoral District
for which they were enrolled.
It was not until the mid-1960s that the system of postal voting in State elections was
extended so that fewer electors were disenfranchised because of their absence from the
electorate in which they were registered.
Reinstating the principle of `one vote, one value' also occurred in this period. From 1949
State electorates had been grouped into two categories: the Sydney Area and the
Country Area. This was altered in 1969 by the reclassification of State electorates into
the Central Area and the Country Area. The Central Area comprised Sydney and
surrounding electorates, including Newcastle, Wollongong and part of the Blue
Mountains. The rest of the State comprised the Country Area. As with earlier electoral
classification schemes, this division favoured the country areas. However, it was not until
1979 when this was changed to all electorates, rural and urban, having approximately
equal number of electors (subject to a margin of allowance of ten per cent).
Following a referendum on 17 June 1978 where the electors voted in favour of the
Members of the Legislative Council being elected directly by the people, at each General
Election since then electors have voted for Members of both the Legislative Assembly
and the Legislative Council. However, the electoral methods differ. The optional
preferential system is used for the Legislative Assembly with the optional preferential
proportional representation system in place for the Legislative Council. Each Member of
the Legislative Assembly is elected to represent an electoral district of New South Wales;
Members of the Legislative Council, on the other hand, are elected to represent the
whole State in Parliament.
In spite of direct election by the people of Members of the Legislative Council at the
General Elections, there are no by-elections for the Council, casual vacancies (where a
member resigns or dies mid-term) continuing to be filled by election by a joint meeting
of both Houses of Parliament. This contrasts with the Legislative Assembly where
vacancies cause by a member resigning or dying mid-term between General Elections
are filled by a by-election in that particular electorate only to elect a new member.
While the 1978 reforms laid the framework for the system of election for the Legislative
Council, various reforms since that time have had a significant impact upon the actual
make up of the House. Above the line voting (optional) was introduced before the 1988
election. This gave parties greater control over the flow of preferences.
In 1991, as the result of a referendum the number of members in both Houses were
reduced and the Legislative Council was restructured to 42 members, half of whom (21)
were to retire or stand for re-election at each General Election. By increasing the number
of members elected at each periodic election, the quota required for a candidate to be
elected was reduced. Party names were also added to ballot papers from 1991.
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State Records Authority of New South Wales
