Electoral Distribution and Reform
For many years, Western Australia used a zonal electoral system for both houses of parliament. In most Australian jurisdictions, each state electorate represents an approximately equal number of voters. However, in Western Australia, until 2008 an MP represented 28,519 voters in greater Perth (the Metropolitan Region Scheme area) or 14,551 country voters. At the 2006 census taken on 8 August 2006, 73.76% of Western Australia's residents lived in and around Perth, but only 34 of Western Australia's 57 Legislative Assembly seats, representing 60% of the total, were located in the metropolitan region. There has been strong support over time in some quarters for the principle of one vote one value, particularly from the Australian Labor Party who were at particular disadvantage under the system. Up until 2005, reform had proceeded gradually—the most dramatic changes had occurred with the enactment of the Electoral Districts Act 1947 and the Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987, the latter of which raised the number of metropolitan seats from 29 to 34. On 20 May 2005, with the official enactment of the Electoral Amendment and Repeal Act 2005 (No.1 of 2005), the distinction was abolished, but all seats then in place remained until the following election on 6 September 2008. A redistribution of seats announced by the Western Australian Electoral Commission on 29 October 2007 places 42 seats in Perth and 17 in the country, with a variation of ±10% from the average population normally permitted. The only distinction for rural seats is that any seat with an area of 100,000 square kilometres (38,610 sq mi) or greater (that is, 4% of the State's land area) may have a variation of +10%-20% from the average, using an adjusted population based on the seat's area in square kilometres.
Read more about this topic: Western Australian Legislative Assembly
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