A GLARING ANOMALY,

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1774, 12 June 1913, Page 4

A GLARING ANOMALY,

The extraordinary political situation which has arisen in Australia as the result of the -recent Federal election remains unchanged, and no one at present seems inclined to prophesy as to what may happen when Parliament meets with a Liberal majority in one Chamber and a Labour majority in the other. Mr. Fisher, the Labour Prime Minister, still refuses to discuss the position, and his colleagues, with the exception of Mr. Hughes (the AttorneyGeneral), have been equally reticent. The Liberals, however, liave Had a meeting in the Parramatta Town Hall, at which the lessons of tho election were discussed, but very little light was thrown upon the outlook. Mr. Cook could not do much more than merely state the position, and tell his hearers that it only shows what can happen under the most democratic suffrage in the world; but "fortunately under the Constitution there is a provision made—a circuitous one it may seem —by which the will of the people may finally prevail." He is, of course, referring to the provision for a double dissolution. Mr. Cook also assured his audience that the fight had not ended—in fact, it was only just beginning. Mr. F. Irwin, writing from the Labour point of view, states that the position is.'untenable, "and another appeal to the people must follow in the course of eighteen months, allowing for tho six months' allowance on the deadlock clause of the Constitution." All this is not very illuminating, but perhaps one can hardly expect a full discussion of the matter until the final election figures have been announced.

Regarding the representation of the two parties in tno Senate, the Melbourno A/jc,, as a result of an analysis of the election figures for the various States f shows that if each party was represented in accordance with its voting strength the position would be as follows:— Labour Liberal seats, seats. New South Wales 1 2 Victoria 2 1 Queensland 2 1 South Australia 2 1 Western Australia ... 2 .1 Tasmania 1 2 Totals 10 8 The number of Labour Senators actually returned was eleven or twelve as against six or seven Liberals. Then there are eighteen Labour Senators, who will hot vacate their seats till 1916. They were elected by a minority of the total votes cast—that is to say, that though more people voted against Labour than for Labour, the minority secured all the representation, whereas, according to numerical strength, they should have only won eight seats and the Liberals ten. Taking all these facts into consideration the position of parties in - a fairly constituted Senate would be as follows:— In 1910. In 1913. Labour 8 10 Liberal 10 8 Totals 18 18 This would have resulted in the two parties' being exactly balanced, whereas, according to the latest figures, the actual position is Labour 29 or 30 Liberals 6 or 7 This means that in the _ Senate today "one class is prodigiously overrepresented, and the rest of the nation virtually disfranchised." As a remedy for this unsatisfactory state of affairs, the Aye advocates the introduction of the system of preferential voting, and an alteration in that part of tho Constitution which gives a small State like Tasmania as large a total representation as a large State such, as New South Wales.