Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport, Roads and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think almost every Australian is aware that a federal election will be held some time this year—although, obviously, there is much speculation about the date. I think that it is for that very reason that, as a member of the House, every time I look around I am receiving a letter from the Special Minister of State increasing my entitlements. As incumbents, we have been advised in recent times of our entitlement to an extra full-time member of our electorate staff, an extra computer, increasing print entitlements and, in recent days, an improvement in our mobile phone entitlement—just to name a few of the handouts of recent months.

What most Australians might not know is that the Howard government is going to make it harder for ordinary Australians to vote at the forthcoming election. Sweeping changes introduced by the Howard government last year as a result of their control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives will result in new laws that significantly alter the way Australians vote. So it is about making it easier for us incumbents to protect ourselves, whilst making it harder for ordinary Australians to actually cast a vote.

The truth is that while, traditionally, voters have had a full week after the announcement of the election date to enrol or update their details, they will now only have until 8pm that night. This severely restricts Australians who work nightshift or have family responsibilities, as well as people who are not fluent in English or who travel regularly. It will also seriously impede people working in remote areas and in fly-in, fly-out mining communities. It will similarly affect people working in the tourism industry.

During the first week of the 2004 election campaign, the Australian Electoral Commission received approximately 80,000 new enrolments and 350,000 updates. That is a total of over 430,000 voters who potentially may not have been able to vote in the election if the 8 pm same-day cut-off had applied—as will apply at the forthcoming election. A large proportion of these voters were people enrolling for the first time—mostly young people who, for the first time since turning 18 years of age, were exercising their democratic right to vote. A large proportion of these voters, about 80,000, were voters who re-enrolled, while others were updating their details after moving or changing their names.

Voters now have only three days rather than a full week to change their enrolment details, while enrolling voters must now prove their identity by providing a drivers licence or a prescribed identity document or providing a form that is signed by two witnesses who are not related to the enroller, who have known him or her for longer than a month and who can confirm their own identity with a drivers licence number. That sounds like a lot of hard work. It is. These laws are clearly not designed to encourage people to vote and become more involved in Australian politics.

These are very serious issues. I do not accept that the Australian taxpayers should be lining our pockets with improved entitlements while it is being made harder for ordinary Australians to vote in the election. It seems to me that the pendulum is swinging too far in the way of incumbents to the disadvantage of ordinary Australians and their ability to cast a vote at this very important forthcoming election. We can all work out the priorities of this government: not to make it easier for people to vote but to make it easier for the incumbents currently represented on both sides of this House to gain re-election at the forthcoming election.

The government is to be condemned for this misuse of entitlements. It is not about assisting ordinary people; it is about looking after a small club of currently elected federal members of the House of Representatives. The Howard government is keenly interested in making sure that this occurs. This is precisely what any government keenly observant of every citizen’s fundamental right should not be doing. Voting is a privilege and something to be valued by all citizens. There is an onus on eligible voters to defeat the Howard government’s endeavours and to take the first available opportunity to enrol correctly so as to guarantee that they have the right to cast their vote at the forthcoming federal election.

But the proposals by the Howard government are about diminishing the rights of ordinary Australians—especially those in remote Aboriginal communities and the outer suburbs and regional communities of Australia—while at the same time making sure that it is easier for incumbents to get re-elected at, I might say, taxpayers’ expense. Incumbents’ entitlements during an election campaign— (Time expired)