South Australia is set to be the first state to move against complicated preference deals which allow minor parties to win parliamentary seats.

Attorney-General John Rau has introduced legislation to parliament to reform voting for the upper house in state parliament.

Rau says it will reduce the likelihood of results similar to ones at the recent federal election where the Motoring Enthusiast Party won a Victorian Senate seat with just 0.51 per cent of the primary vote.

He says such results are the product of “gaming” the current system.

“The bizarre outcomes from the recent federal election, where candidates have been elected to the Senate with a tiny minority of votes, demonstrate why upper house reform is necessary and urgent,” Rau said on Tuesday.

Key changes in the SA bill will put limits on which candidates and groups can lodge a preference ticket and will place political parties on the left of the ballot paper with independents to the right.

Rau says the government’s reforms could be in place in time for the next state election in March.

But he says they are not the complete answer and the government will also table a further bill for consultation to eliminate preferential voting in the upper house and adopt a Sainte-Lague system already used in many European countries and New Zealand.

The system allocates seats on the basis of the proportion of the overall vote that each party or candidate receives.

“The question is whether there is an appetite to solve the problem properly. A Sainte-Lague system would do this,” Rau said.