Elected Representatives

I do feel a great sense of sadness for our UK readers who are currently so poorly served by their elected representatives. I'm also concerned that as a consequence many voters will turn to more radical parties.

Of course the UK isn't alone in this respect. The USA has a leader with 'alternative facts' whilst countries like Italy, Poland and Hungary have similar issues.

In Australia we have the 'One Nation' party founded and led by Pauline Hanson. She espouses simple solutions to complex issues. This resonates with a percentage of the population who eagerly seize on her comments to pacify their fears. Pauline left school aged 15 shortly before her first marriage and pregnancy. She has been married three times and had a further five domestic partners. Before entering politics she owned a fish and chip shop in Queensland.

Australia has an interesting political structure with elected upper and lower houses. Constituencies in the lower house are created based on the number of voters in an area. This means States with larger populations have more MP's in the lower house. To counter this, the upper house (Senate) has six representatives from each State.

Australia has a proportional voting system. Voters cast their vote for all candidates based on the number of candidates in their electorate (lower house) or State (Senate). Essentials the voter ranks the candidates from 1 to whatever.  If the candidate you voted first doesn't get sufficient votes then your vote goes to your second candidate. This process repeats itself. One quirk with this system is candidate 1 might get 30% of the primary vote and candidate 2 gets 20%. However candidate 2 might ultimately get elected because they received more preference votes than candidate 1.

At the last federal election The One Nation party received sufficient preference votes to have two Queensland candidates elected to the Senate. Pauline Hanson took one of the seats and her deputy the other. However after being sworn into office he was subsequently disqualified because he had dual citizenship. Under the currently electoral laws this meant the 3rd candidate on the One Nation ticket was given the seat. The 3rd candidate was Frazer Anning. He repudiated his membership of One Nation on his first day in the Senate immediately after being sworn in. He then opting to sit in the Senate as an independent.

Frazer Anning holds far-right, and anti-immigration views and has faced criticism for some of his remarks on Islam, including his use of the term "final solution" in his maiden speech and statements shortly after the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, which blamed them on "the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate". Whilst his seat is in Queensland he regularly travels to Victoria at tax payer expense to speak at far right rallies.

Now here is the ludicrous point.

Frazer Anning received a total of 19 votes in the general election. Yes... 19 votes from 3,342,848 eligible Queensland voters. According to the Australian electoral Commission he received 00.0% of the vote. Moreover, Australian law prevents him from being removed from office. 

For those who believe the "first past the post" electoral system is unfair don't think that proportional representation will necessarily make this better!

I think I’ve also worked out what is happening in the House of Commons.  650 MP’s are in a locked large round room frantically looking for the key to the locked exit door.  Nearly all of them believe the key is in one of the corners of the room.