Consider the very simplest contest for an electorate - Party A vs Party B.
Party A gets 51%.
Party B gets 49%.
Based on these results, Party A gets elected and gets to speak in parliament and make decisions that will change the lives of everybody in the electorate. Party A speaks for a (very slight) majority, but claims to have a "mandate." However, 49% of people are now lacking any kind of representation. Their views, and indeed their political existence has ceased to exist, as anyone who's contacted a Liberal member in support of equal marriage can attest.
How can we continue to support systems that offer us the option to choose who speaks for us and then silences our voices? How can only the majority be "right"?
In Queensland the Liberals have secured just 49.9% of the total vote, but will soon have 87.6%* of the voice. How is that effective representation? 51.1% of people did not vote for them. How is that the government the people want?
If Queenslanders had proportional representation, more people would have their views heard in parliament. Tasmania is an example of a state that uses the Hare-Clark system to elect five members per electorate, giving a more diverse parliament.
TAS: 10 Libs, 10 Labs, 5 Greens.
How might the Queensland parliament look different if they had proportional representation?**
A diversity of voices represented would lead to a much healthier democracy. Proportional representation should become a key feature of all Australian democracies.
Because every Australian and every vote should count.
*calculated on the predicted outcome of 78 seats out of 89.
ABC QLD Election Coverage
**based on the raw statewide percentages as there is no current proposal to redraw the electorates for prop rep. An actual proportional representation election might not have come out exactly like this.
