INDIVIDUAL REPRESENTATION Flashcards
How do individuals participate in government
Individuals, political parties and pressure groups are all political actors – they seek to exercise their political rights and freedoms in a democratic system to either influence those elected or to become elected themselves, influencing the decision-making institutions in order to represent the worldviews, interests and causes that concern them.
How can individuals participate
Voting in elections
Running as an independent candidate
Working for an electoral commission
How is Australia’s voting protected and occur
Australia’s representative democracy is guaranteed by Sections 7 and 24 of the Constitution which ensures members of the Senate and House of Representatives are “directly chosen by the people”. These constitutional provisions, along with the interpretations by the High Court, protect the integrity of Australia’s democratic system.
What is a by-election
Individuals can choose to run as an independent candidate in an election, most likely in by-elections, though they are usually unsuccessful unless they already have a high profile.
An example of someone running for a by-election
A high profile independent who beat the odds and won a by-election was Prof. Kerryn Phelps, who won the 2018 Wentworth by-election which was held when PM Malcolm Turnbull was ousted from office and subsequently resigned from Parliament. Wentworth, under Turnbull, had a 19% margin for the Liberals, however, Prof. Kerryn Phelps was a highly regarded GP in the area for many years was able to win the electorate on the basis of issues surrounding climate change inaction, LGBTQI+, and refugees.
