The dispute goes to the core of how bold Australians are prepared to be in Australianising the Westminster system of government they have inherited.
And it would open up a rival power base to that of the prime minister, something a Westminster system is not designed to cope with.
Changing the Westminster voting system, more or less radically, is now on the political agenda.
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On 5 May, people across Scotland went to the polls to elect their local and regional MSPs, as well as vote in the referendum on changing the Westminster voting system.
The bill paves the way for a referendum on changing the Westminster electoral system from first-past-the-post to the Alternative Vote (AV) system, whereby voters rank candidates in order of preference on the ballot paper.
The bill provides for a referendum on changing the Westminster voting system from first past the post to the alternative vote (AV), making constituencies more equal in population size and cutting the number of MPs from 650 to 600.
Firstly, the voting system for Westminster elections had to be changed to one based on proportional representation.
While Mr Blair remains in office, Lib Dem hopes of a more proportional electoral system for Westminster live on.
If that second election transpires, it looks increasingly likely to be held under the same first-past-the-post voting system that Westminster has always known.
He said there was an "honourable tradition" within his own party of opposing views on AV and denied using the system at Westminster elections would definitely mean more coalition governments.
That could upset Australia's Westminster-style parliamentary system.
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Mr Johnson and Labour leader Ed Miliband are among Labour MPs backing a change to AV - but many heavyweight figures within the party, including former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, and most Conservatives, are campaigning to keep the current first-past-the-post system for Westminster elections.
As well as assembly seats, people have also voted on whether to replace the first-past-the-post system for electing Westminster MPs with the alternative vote (AV).
The public will be asked whether they want to replace the existing first-past-the-post system for electing MPs to Westminster with a method known as the alternative vote (AV).
Gordon Brown surprised Westminster by announcing plans for a new interim system of a daily allowance to replace the controversial cash for second homes.
In a report published last year, the Constitution Unit, a group of academics and former civil servants, decided that the only way of dealing with this problem was to stipulate that the Scottish parliament can change its voting system only with the agreement of Westminster.
They feared Thatcherism was too big a shock to the British system and trusted in the wisdom of Westminster and Whitehall.
However Labour MP Anne Begg, who sits on the Work and Pensions Select Committee at Westminster, said the government's pension credit system was addressing the issue and "lifting poor pensions out of poverty".
If it passes successfully through the Assembly, the bill will bring changes introduced at Westminster which have marked the biggest overhaul of the benefits system since the 1940s, into effect in Northern Ireland.
If the coalition works, voters may warm to the idea of power-sharing, and to the proportional voting systems that inevitably give rise to it. (A referendum on the alternative-vote electoral model, which the Lib Dems prefer over Westminster's first-past-the-post system, is part of the deal.) And the Lib Dems got all this despite flopping at the polls.
The party whip system for ensuring voting discipline is less strict at the European Parliament than at Westminster, he explained.
Under the other option, the boundaries would be changed so that they're co-terminous with the Westminster seats, 30 AMs would be elected via the first-past-the-post system in a specific constituency, while another 30 would be elected via the list system.
That nothing changes but if change is a must, a move to 30 seats to match future Westminster seats with two AMs elected in each, both via the first-past-the-post system.
Gordon Brown, who is in Bradford for a memorial ceremony, has said a "better system" for expenses is needed - but one that recognises that MPs must live in two places, Westminster and their constituency.
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