❓ Mr. Birney questions Premier Gallop's push for electoral reform before a change in Legislative Council membership, citing Gallop's previous opposition to similar actions. Gallop defends the reform as fulfilling an electoral mandate.
AnsweredQoN 31Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Premier’s decision to ram one vote, one value legislation through the upper house before its membership turns over on 22 May, and to his comments on 6 March 1997, when he said - The Court Government should respect the will of the people and refrain from introducing any controversial legislation before May 22 when new Members of the Legislative Council take their seats. . . . To rush legislation through the Parliament while the Coalition still enjoys its majority would be immoral, opportunistic and insulting to the electorate. I ask the Premier: what has changed? Dr G.I. GALLOP
AnswerView source ↗
I would have thought that it would be highly insulting to the people of Western Australia not to pass legislation establishing electoral reform in Western Australia. That is the truth of the matter. We have gone to two elections and we fought those elections on the basis of electoral reform. The opposition, both the Liberal and the National Party, opposed our policies throughout Western Australia, and we won not one but both of those elections. It is important that the will of the people be backed up by the Parliament of the people. There is no question of my government ramming anything through this Parliament because we do not have the numbers in the Legislative Council. We need the support of other members of that house to get legislation through, which raises a very interesting question. We know that there are members of the Liberal Party who recognise the need for changes in our electoral system. They recognise the fact that the system we currently have is unfair to Western Australians. Of course, their leader has told them that there will be no change in the system, which reflects very poorly on the Leader of the Opposition’s judgment. Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
. . . To rush legislation through the Parliament while the Coalition still enjoys its majority would be immoral, opportunistic and insulting to the electorate.
To rush legislation through the Parliament while the Coalition still enjoys its majority would be immoral, opportunistic and insulting to the electorate.
Dr G.I. GALLOP replied: I would have thought that it would be highly insulting to the people of Western Australia not to pass legislation establishing electoral reform in Western Australia. That is the truth of the matter. We have gone to two elections and we fought those elections on the basis of electoral reform. The opposition, both the Liberal and the National Party, opposed our policies throughout Western Australia, and we won not one but both of those elections. It is important that the will of the people be backed up by the Parliament of the people. There is no question of my government ramming anything through this Parliament because we do not have the numbers in the Legislative Council. We need the support of other members of that house to get legislation through, which raises a very interesting question. We know that there are members of the Liberal Party who recognise the need for changes in our electoral system. They recognise the fact that the system we currently have is unfair to Western Australians. Of course, their leader has told them that there will be no change in the system, which reflects very poorly on the Leader of the Opposition’s judgment. Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
I would have thought that it would be highly insulting to the people of Western Australia not to pass legislation establishing electoral reform in Western Australia. That is the truth of the matter. We have gone to two elections and we fought those elections on the basis of electoral reform. The opposition, both the Liberal and the National Party, opposed our policies throughout Western Australia, and we won not one but both of those elections. It is important that the will of the people be backed up by the Parliament of the people. There is no question of my government ramming anything through this Parliament because we do not have the numbers in the Legislative Council. We need the support of other members of that house to get legislation through, which raises a very interesting question. We know that there are members of the Liberal Party who recognise the need for changes in our electoral system. They recognise the fact that the system we currently have is unfair to Western Australians. Of course, their leader has told them that there will be no change in the system, which reflects very poorly on the Leader of the Opposition’s judgment. Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
There is no question of my government ramming anything through this Parliament because we do not have the numbers in the Legislative Council. We need the support of other members of that house to get legislation through, which raises a very interesting question. We know that there are members of the Liberal Party who recognise the need for changes in our electoral system. They recognise the fact that the system we currently have is unfair to Western Australians. Of course, their leader has told them that there will be no change in the system, which reflects very poorly on the Leader of the Opposition’s judgment. Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
. . . To rush legislation through the Parliament while the Coalition still enjoys its majority would be immoral, opportunistic and insulting to the electorate.
To rush legislation through the Parliament while the Coalition still enjoys its majority would be immoral, opportunistic and insulting to the electorate.
Dr G.I. GALLOP replied: I would have thought that it would be highly insulting to the people of Western Australia not to pass legislation establishing electoral reform in Western Australia. That is the truth of the matter. We have gone to two elections and we fought those elections on the basis of electoral reform. The opposition, both the Liberal and the National Party, opposed our policies throughout Western Australia, and we won not one but both of those elections. It is important that the will of the people be backed up by the Parliament of the people. There is no question of my government ramming anything through this Parliament because we do not have the numbers in the Legislative Council. We need the support of other members of that house to get legislation through, which raises a very interesting question. We know that there are members of the Liberal Party who recognise the need for changes in our electoral system. They recognise the fact that the system we currently have is unfair to Western Australians. Of course, their leader has told them that there will be no change in the system, which reflects very poorly on the Leader of the Opposition’s judgment. Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
I would have thought that it would be highly insulting to the people of Western Australia not to pass legislation establishing electoral reform in Western Australia. That is the truth of the matter. We have gone to two elections and we fought those elections on the basis of electoral reform. The opposition, both the Liberal and the National Party, opposed our policies throughout Western Australia, and we won not one but both of those elections. It is important that the will of the people be backed up by the Parliament of the people. There is no question of my government ramming anything through this Parliament because we do not have the numbers in the Legislative Council. We need the support of other members of that house to get legislation through, which raises a very interesting question. We know that there are members of the Liberal Party who recognise the need for changes in our electoral system. They recognise the fact that the system we currently have is unfair to Western Australians. Of course, their leader has told them that there will be no change in the system, which reflects very poorly on the Leader of the Opposition’s judgment. Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
There is no question of my government ramming anything through this Parliament because we do not have the numbers in the Legislative Council. We need the support of other members of that house to get legislation through, which raises a very interesting question. We know that there are members of the Liberal Party who recognise the need for changes in our electoral system. They recognise the fact that the system we currently have is unfair to Western Australians. Of course, their leader has told them that there will be no change in the system, which reflects very poorly on the Leader of the Opposition’s judgment. Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
Let us summarise the argument. There have been two elections in which we have put electoral reform on the agenda. The campaigns run during those elections by the Liberal and the National Party opposed those policies, and we won those two elections. It is quite simple: we have a mandate for change, and we expect the Parliament of Western Australia to back us up in creating a system that is fair to all Western Australians.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.