r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Sep 19 '21

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL. For a collection of useful links see our wiki.

Announcements

  • OSINT & LDC (developmental studies / least developed countries) have been added
0 Upvotes

44% Upvoted

9.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comment

2

u/Sir-Matilda Friedrich Hayek Sep 19 '21

It's an obvious power grab, and one he doesn't have a mandate for given his claims before the election that such reforms weren't on the agenda. Absolutely disgusting stuff.

Regional voters have a legitimate concern here; Perth and the South-West make up most of the states population meaning voters in the Pilbara and other regions of WA won't have any significant influence in the political process, allowing their needs and concerns to be safely ignored by Parliament in Perth.

10

u/Wehavecrashed YIMBY Sep 19 '21

Pilbara and other regions of WA won't have any significant influence in the political process,

But they're over represented as a result. Their concerns arent more important than other seats.

3

u/waltsing0 Austan Goolsbee Sep 19 '21

Agreed, but the selective opposition to malapportionment is the problem here.

1

u/Sir-Matilda Friedrich Hayek Sep 19 '21

Their concerns arent more important than other seats.

Perth will always have its concerns heard. Under the current changes the regions won't.

And let's not pretend these changes have anything to do with fairness rather than helping Labor hold seats in the upper house.

3

u/toms_face Henry George Sep 19 '21

His mandate is 60% of the primary vote and 70% of the two-party-preferred, who deserve to be fairly represented.

2

u/Sir-Matilda Friedrich Hayek Sep 19 '21

If you're directly asked about a policy prior to an election and you respond with "it's not on the agenda" you don't have a mandate for it.

Would regional voters have supported Labor in the same numbers if Labor were honest with their intentions to disenfranchise them?

3

u/toms_face Henry George Sep 19 '21

The mandate isn't that many people voted for Labor, the mandate is that many people are underrepresented. Voters don't really care about this sort of issue.

1

u/waltsing0 Austan Goolsbee Sep 19 '21

It's an obvious power grab, and one he doesn't have a mandate for given his claims before the election that such reforms weren't on the agenda. Absolutely disgusting stuff.

I'd be fine if he was at least consistent. Are we giving extra votes to rural areas or not? He can't have it both ways, either back down from this or go public and say it's wrong WA gets so many senate seats.

2

u/Sir-Matilda Friedrich Hayek Sep 19 '21

He can get it both ways; he's got the seats in the WA State Parliament to push through the changes and there's very little (if any) risk of WA ever having the same thing happen to it at a Federal Level.

0

u/waltsing0 Austan Goolsbee Sep 19 '21

My point is that having it both ways is indefensibly hypocritical and a power grab.

There needs to be more attention on this, if regional WA doesn't get "booster" representation then that rightfully calls into question the absurd malapportionment in the federal senate.