There will be a by-election in the Tasmanian Legislative Council electorate of Pembroke on August 1. Pembroke covers the eastern shore of the Derwent River, and is one of the seats covering the Hobart area. The seat was held by Labor MLC Alison Ritchie since 2001. Ritchie won re-election in 2007 and briefly served as a Minister in 2008 before resigning due to ill-health.
Ritchie resigned last month over a scandal involving the employment of her mother and other family members in her parliamentary office. Ritchie was one of four Labor MLCs in the Legislative Council.
Labor generally is more aggressive in Legislative Council elections, with the Liberal Party rarely running for seats. Interestingly, Pembroke was previously held by a Liberal, with Peter McKay, a conservative independent MLC since 1979, joining the Liberal Party in 1991 and serving until 1999, which included a spell as a minister.
In a surprising twist, the Liberal Party have nominated Vanessa Goodwin for the seat. Goodwin came close to winning a second seat for the Liberals in Franklin at the 2006 state election and performed strongly for the party in the 2007 federal election in the same seat. She was expected to win a second seat for the party at the next state lower house election in Franklin.
Labor are not running a candidate, however a number of pro-Labor independents are standing, most interestingly Honey Bacon, the widow of former Labor premier Jim Bacon. The Greens are also standing a candidate.
Elsewhere: Coverage from Peter Tucker at Tasmanian Politics, Poll Bludger, Mumble, and Malcolm Mackerras.
So do the Greens have any particular policy stance regarding the cost of by-elections? I notice Mark Parnell is at it again today criticising the costs of the Frome by-election and proposing legislation to force parties to pay the costs of by-elections. Is this just his own view, or does it reflect broader Greens policy?
I’ve never heard any Greens people suggesting such a policy. It’s a bit strange, considering sometimes it’s necessary to hold a by-election. If an MP dies, is it really the party’s responsibility? I think parties already have a strong incentive to avoid by-elections.
Mind you, if you implemented Hare-Clark you would eradicate by-elections.
“If an MP dies, is it really the party’s responsibility?”
Actually, I’d have thought that would be a good example of when NOT to hold a by-election. It’s nobody’s fault if an MP dies, so why should the sitting party potentially be punished by losing a seat?
I think by-elections should only be held when the vacany is the MPs own fault; such as if they are forced to resign in disgrace, or decide that they can’t be bothered serving out a full term. If they die or become seriously ill, etc they should be just be automatically replaced by someone from their own party.
That is what countback usually does. I believe that it has only once cost a party a seat to another party in 1983 when the only ever Democrat member of the HAT (who was a conservationist) was replaced by Bob Brown. I however favour a system of countback slightly different to the Tasmanians where both the vote of the dead/resigned/expelled member and the votes for candidates who were neither elected or eliminated are counted in the recount. Members of parliaments should only be there because of votes not appointments.
I should add that Parnell’s proposal includes exceptions for when an MP dies, or resigns due to ill-health or ‘significant family carer responsibilities’. However, I still think the cynical populist objection to by-elections (in single member electorates) on the grounds of cost is terrible. If an MP no longer wishes to perform his/her duties to their electorate, then they should be able to resign and give the electorate a chance to elect someone else. Maybe docking part of their super payout could be justified, but charging them or their party for the costs sends completely the wrong message about the ‘cost’ of democracy.
I raised the question because I did find the cost argument to be a strange one to be made by a Greens MP. Obviously he’s entitled to his own views though.
And sorry if I confused anyone – Mark Parnell is a Greens MLC in South Australia, so I’m slightly off topic here.
Do MLCs in Tassie have electorate offices, or staff? I’m trying to think what Ritchie’s family could have done.
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