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

They might not have existed as the residents they wished to claim they were. As we know, there is a new $450,000-a-year government relations individual. I find it astounding that you can give a government relations job to someone when the government owns the business. But that person had to admit in the Shepherdson inquiry that there were nine people who used the address of his flat to be recorded on an electoral roll. That situation is all in black and white, and I think three MPs in Queensland at the time had to resign. One was the Deputy Premier, whose name I have mentioned. These are the sorts of situations that occurred under a system that did not have the appropriate checks and balances.

Who comes to this place and swears an oath wants to weaken that provision? The fact of life is that that rule is now well understood, and genuine and honest people will be able to manage it. The kids, as I said, never had an excuse to line up and seek to register in the final days before an election. They have a whole year before they turn 18—and, in fact, in many instances that would be two years before an election was called—to register to vote. And they have a legal obligation from the day they turn 18 to register under this act within 21 days.

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