Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was interesting to hear the impassioned pleas of the member for Maribyrnong to give people the right to break the law in terms of their registration to vote. Let us get these facts straight. Part VIII, section 101(6), of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 says:

A person who fails to comply with subsection(1), (4) or (5) is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding 1 penalty unit.

And what does section 101(5A) tell us? It states:

… every person who is entitled to have his or her name placed on the Roll for any Subdivision whether by way of enrolment or transfer of enrolment, and whose name is not on the Roll upon the expiration of 21 days from the date upon which the person became so entitled, or at any subsequent date while the person continues to be so entitled, shall be guilty of an offence—

as described by me previously. So the member for Maribyrnong stands up here and says there ought to be a special deal for everybody who has failed their legal responsibility under the Electoral Act. Who are these people? They are all people who have been to school. The member made special reference to the young. The young can register for a vote any time after they turn 17—that is, one year before they are entitled to cast a vote—and the member for Maribyrnong tells us that they are all too thick, all too simple or all too corrupt to take that option.

The fact of life is that every schoolkid is told at school about their rights to vote. Unfortunately, in some schools they get told how to vote, and that is something that annoys me no end. It might not be as direct as what would come out of the mouth of the member for Maribyrnong in advising his children, but the reality is that children know and children have a responsibility. That is not a right to leave it until the last minute. There is nothing in the Electoral Act that says that. The Electoral Act says that you have a responsibility as a citizen of Australia. If, as the member for Maribyrnong tells us, all our hearts are beating for that, how can the Labor Party consistently argue that provisions must exist in the act for people who have broken the fundamental principle of the act? That principle is that enrolment is compulsory and that it is compulsory within 21 days of eligibility or of changing your address. That is the law, and yet Labor comes in here and says it is all too hard. Yes, it is all too hard for those who have rorted the system.

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