Strengthening democracy

• Marian Sawer, Kathy MacDermott, Norm Kelly
• Centre for Policy Development

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16 August 2010The principle of political equality has always been central to democracy and to the way democracy was understood by the democratic reformers of mid-19^th Century Australia. The Australasian colonies were regarded as being in the vanguard of democratic innovation and at the end of the 19^th Century such innovations became part of the federal compact. The new Constitution expressly precluded plural voting (provisions for property owners to have extra votes), and the Senate was to be directly elected on a popular franchise, unlike any other upper house of the time. There were to be no privileges based on property, and in the words of the first commentator on the Australian Constitution, University of Melbourne Dean of Law Harrison Moore: “The predominant feature of the Australian Constitution is the prevalence of the democratic principle, in its most modern guise”. He believed that this underlying principle meant that rights were protected not through a Bill of Rights, but through ensuring as far as possible that individuals had an equal share in political power.

During the 20^th Century, progress in this area continued. For example, property qualifications for State upper houses were finally abolished. Later, the malapportionment which made the votes of rural property holders worth more than the votes of urban residents was gradually removed, except for in the Western Australian Legislative Council. However, the last quarter of the 20^th Century saw the influence of property again assume a major role in electoral politics. The dependence of political parties on corporate donations has served to undermine fair electoral competition and hence the principle of political equality.