Representing Democracy or Reinforcing Inequality?: Electoral Distribution and 'McGinty v Western Australia'

Abstract

'McGinty v Western Australia' is a significant indicator of present and prospective attitudes of the High Court to major issues of representative democracy, such as electoral representation and equality. In affirming by a majority that substantial numerical voter inequality in Western Australian state electorates did not infringe a concept of representative democracy in either the Commonwealth or the Western Australian constitutions, the court went beyond a refusal to overturn AG (Cth); 'Ex Rel McKinlay v Commonwealth' of more than twenty years earlier.