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

about the Labor Party rorting the roll because they do not travel too well in my electorate. A lot of Labor voters vote for me. But the fact of life is that this matters in marginal seats. Probably a seat in parliament was stolen from a woman who by campaigning got 51 per cent of the regular primary vote but was defeated by the trebling of the provisional votes, which ran 80 to 20 against her. I do not know if the member for Melbourne Ports believes that you do not really have a right to be elected to parliament if you are not a member of the Labor Party. If he believes that then I will be interested to hear his speech shortly.

But the fundamental issue on this matter is that there is no reason why a person should be given special attention to get on the roll at the last minute, because that contravenes the law. And there is no reason in this day and age, when identification is asked for in so many places and people are used to it and they carry particularly their photographic drivers licence, to say that there is something unfair or improper about them having to produce identification to get a vote when they are not on the electoral roll.

There is another matter in this day of the internet and everything else—that is, if you are worried about it, check it. In the days when the only access was the printed electoral roll, we used to run a table in the shopping centre where people could come out and find out if they were on the roll. But do not give me this rubbish that all these people do not understand the rules, rules that have now been in existence for one election. The only outcome of this change can be that it opens up the possibility for improper practices. I say again and finally, as my time runs out, that it is a contradiction of the law to argue that people need time to enrol. They are obliged to do it and they are obliged to do it within 21 days of becoming eligible or relocating their premises. The member for Maribyrnong says, ‘Oh, they might live in flats.’ When they move flats they have an obligation—(Time expired)

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