Barry Haase (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Protecting Elector Participation) Bill 2012 and a related bill. This bill seeks to amend the Electoral Act to allow the Australian Electoral Commission, the AEC, to directly enrol new electors on the electoral roll when the Electoral Commissioner is satisfied that an individual is living at a particular address for one month and is eligible to be on the roll.

If this bill is passed, we are risking the integrity of the electoral roll. We are risking the people of Australia's right to vote in the electorate they genuinely live in. We are taking away the responsibility of constituents. We are not empowering people with the right to vote. In fact, we are saying, 'We do not trust you to notify authorities of your permanent address'—no reflection on you, Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou. If an elector is enrolled without their knowledge there is a significant chance for an error to occur. Under automatic enrolment, there is the potential for electors who are not Australian citizens, for electors who are under 18 and for electors who use different names to be enrolled without their knowledge, damaging the integrity and reliability of the roll.

This absurd bill is all about trust and treachery. The Labor government is asking the Australian public to trust them with the enrolment details, yet this treacherous government has proven to the people of Australia that they cannot be trusted. This government cannot be trusted on their word. Who will ever forget those infamous words, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead'—words spouted by the current Prime Minister in her first official act of deceit just days before the last election.

Not only can this government not be trusted on their word, they cannot be trusted with the Australian taxpayers' money. Why? It still irks the public of Australia that around $40 million was wasted a few years ago when 16,000 dead people and 27,000 people living overseas were given a bonus of $900 each. According to the taxation—

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