Conscience Votes Would Only Weaken The Democratic Process

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday March 5, 2007

Richard Torbay, the independent MP for the Northern Tablelands, has good intentions, but his idea of allowing more conscience votes in Parliament would diminish the electorate's representation in our democracy, rather than enhance it ("Let MPs off leash and vote by heart," March 1).

Each electorate is represented by a member who you may or may not have voted for, and who belongs to a party that may or may not be in government. This system provides representation only of a sort to those who voted for the government and who live in a government-held electorate. The rest of the electorate remains effectively unrepresented.

Even when someone votes for a government, it is unlikely they would agree with 100 per cent of the government's platform, and therefore the mandates claimed by governments may well be illusory. Furthermore, governments are known on occasions to break their election promises, or find themselves confronted by new situations, which they must respond to by implementing new policies that have not been put to the electorate.

This is a poor representation of democracy and it is no wonder that many citizens feel disenfranchised by the political process. To increase the number of conscience votes would simply make governments even more unpredictable and unaccountable, not to mention massively increase the opportunity for individual politicians to be corrupted by lobbyists. What an extraordinarily naive proposition.

Surely there is a better way. With modern technology it should be possible to develop a way of transforming each important government decision into a kind of plebiscite. Voters in each electorate could be polled electronically on each important decision taken by Parliament. Where such a poll shows the majority of the electorate's voters disagree with the voting intentions of the member of Parliament, the MP would be compelled by law to change his or her vote to make it in line with the wishes of the electorate. Now that really would be democracy.

Scott Webb Bella Vista

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home