Changing Electoral Structures and Regional Representation in Western Australia: From Countrymindedness to One Vote One Value

Abstract

Electoral systems in Australia have a long history of favouring rural voters over those living in cities. These systems of electoral malapportionment have their origins in the 19th and early 20th centuries when rural Australia was the driving-force behind the nation's economy. The widespread view was that, without strong political representation, those areas generating the nation's wealth might be left behind at the expense of the city. Nowhere were malapportionment and the accompanying set of ‘countryminded’ values more entrenched than in Western Australia. Since 1890, a system has endured whereby rural votes are, in real terms, worth nearly twice those of metropolitan votes. Only recently has legislation been passed introducing the principle of ‘one vote one value’. This paper examines the transformation of the electoral system in Western Australia, focusing on the socio-political conditions that gave rise to, and sustained, vote weighting, before considering the range of factors that contributed to its demise.