Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Hansard source

We will discuss a number of matters tonight where we will see that it has not been the policy of this chamber, of this parliament, on many of these questions. But what we are seeing in this particular matter is the first of a series of questions that will come before us tonight whereby the government will seek to impose its agenda with regard to the electoral laws of this country.

The minister makes great play of the international situation. He says that he does not particularly like being identified with the United States position on this matter. I understand that. In much of what we are seeing tonight, he will have to take a different view because he will be able to see the introduction of a United States style electoral system here. We know that, in the United States, 48 of the states deny the right to vote for any serving prisoner, 33 states disqualify those who are on parole and eight states deny the vote to not only those in prison but those who have been convicted. European countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have no restrictions on people’s right to vote based on whether they are prisoners or otherwise, whereas a number of eastern European countries clearly have quite significant restrictions on those matters, and, as the minister has indicated, they may well be subject to change themselves, given recent decisions of the courts in Europe.

However, the matter before us now is whether or not it is fair and reasonable to disenfranchise people who are in jail serving a sentence of this duration. We take the view that it is not. We will support the Democrats’ opposition to schedule 1, item 14, but we will not be supporting Democrat amendment (2), because, essentially, we do not want to go to the next stage. We think the current position is an appropriate compromise and middle course on this matter.