Hon Chairperson, hon members, hon Deputy Minister, the ACDP wholeheartedly supports this Bill and I believe it's very, very good.
We have been victims of this law. The ruling party was very wise to put a 10% threshold in the qualifications, otherwise they might also have lost people during that period. [Interjections.]
The ACDP is on record as opposing floor-crossing. We participated in a partially successful Constitutional Court challenge to the legislation that allowed floor-crossing. We therefore support these provisions that will bring an end to floor-crossing.
In a proportional list system such as we have, citizens vote merely for the party of their choice and its leader and not so much for the candidates on the party list, whom the vast majority of the voters do not know. It is a cardinal principle of the proportional representation system that elected members vacate their seats when they resign from their party or lose their party membership. This system, according to the electoral commission, ensures that the will of the people, as expressed in an election, cannot be negated and substituted by the will of an individual or a group of individuals. This principle is effectively negated by floor-crossing.
Chiara Carter, a journalist for The Star newspaper stated it well, and I quote:
Floor-crossing, a window period when elected representatives get to play musical chairs and switch party allegiance or even join one-man-bands of their own making, while retaining their seats and salaries, has been highly controversial since its inception in 2002.
The spectacle of politicians, dubbed "crosstitutes", embracing new, often expedient loyalties infuriated the public, swelled the ranks of larger parties and provided a lease of life for a good few career politicians.
In the view of the ACDP, floor-crossing presents one of the most serious threats to our multiparty democracy. Floor-crossing has also contributed significantly to voter apathy. Voters believe that it is useless to vote when elected representatives can defect to another party not representing the initial reason why they voted for them. Further, it has also engrained negative public perceptions of politicians as self-seeking opportunists, with voters being outraged at the political shenanigans exhibited during floor-crossing periods.
The ACDP is very happy that this Bill has come before this House and we fully support the Bill. I thank you.