Labor’s decision to introduce legislation tomorrow to gut Regions-based representation in the Upper House without taking the proposal to the recent State Election or putting it to a vote of all Western Australians has been labelled a public disgrace by WA Liberal Leader Dr David Honey.
Dr Honey said that the proposal to abolish the 6 voting Regions in the Upper House to be replaced with a whole-of-State electorate was a betrayal of people in our State, especially those living or working in rural, regional and remote Western Australia.
“The WA Labor government needs to immediately hold a Referendum on this outrageous voting change as they have no electoral mandate to implement it.
“Such a Referendum needs to be held before any legislation is considered by Parliament.
“This is a massive change to our electoral system and the Labor government should give everyone in Western Australia the opportunity to pass their judgement on it through a state wide Referendum or take it as a proposal to the next State Election.
“This is the fundamental democratic right of every Western Australia and they should not be denied the opportunity to vote on this disgraceful change which I believe they will strongly reject.
“In particular, I believe the electorate will be angry about how the Labor government has tried to rail-road these changes through with minimum public debate.
“This is highlighted by the fact they established a Committee within weeks of the March State Election to report on making these changes after repeatedly saying during the election that they have no plans for changes to Regions-based representation in the Upper House.
“The time frame for public submissions was just a few weeks (14 May 2021 to 8 June 2021) and during that time the Committee did not visit or meet in regional Western Australia to directly hear feedback from voters who would be most affected.
“This whole process is dishonest and clearly shows how the Labor Government is drunk on power because of its massive majority in Parliament,” he said.
Dr Honey announced that he has today launched www.SaveCountryVotes.com.
This site enables concerned Western Australians to enter their postcode, quickly find their local MP and make contact to express their opinion. Hopefully, after listening to the concerns of WA voters, Labor will stop their crusade against Regions-based representation.
