Ballot Reform

While I have actively supported proportional representation in the three referendums we had, what I heard overwhelmingly from voters each time is they are looking for incremental changes rather than wholesale revamps of the voting system.

One of the first pieces of legislative change I would introduce would be to bring back ranked ballots. The current voting system fails to deliver voters meaningful choice. In fact, this election, we saw an entire political party disband because they were afraid of splitting the vote. Voters deserve to have a wide range of candidates to choose from and they should be able to choose the best candidate regardless of party affiliation.

Under out current voting, MLAs can get elected with as little as 30% support, as a result of the "left wing" or "right wing" parties splitting the vote. A ranked ballot would let conservative or progressive voters list a 1, 2, and 3rd choice so if they voted for an independent such as myself as their first choice and I had the fewest vote, their vote would count towards their second favourite. It is a great system that works well in Australia, often delivering independents or a variety of smaller parties.