John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will make a short contribution to the debate on this very important issue of the early closure of the rolls. I associate myself with the remarks that have been made by Senator Carr, who is leading this debate for the Labor Party, and Senator Ludwig. They have both spoken very eloquently about what I believe is a most important issue. There is a major issue about the closure of the rolls and how that relates to the time of the issue of the writs. There is something even more important than the time between the issue of the writs and the closure of the rolls. What is absolutely crucial is when the election is called and when the rolls are closed. In other words, the key time period is between the date of the announcement of the election and when the rolls are closed. Under the government’s proposals this is concertinaed literally into less than 24 hours. The election is announced, the writs are issued and the rolls are closed, effectively all at the same time. In my brief contribution before this committee, I point out that this is unprecedented in Australian politics except for the one instance I addressed in my speech in the second reading debate on this bill.

I would like to take the committee back through some 60-odd years of Australian political history to show how significant this change is. The time between when an election is announced and the date of the closure of the rolls—the days from announcement to roll closure—is the key issue because people take the opportunity after an election has been announced to go and enrol. Young people do it, people who need to re-enrol do it and of course those people who need to change their electoral enrolment do it. You have heard the figures; they are very substantial figures. In each category there are at least tens of thousands and in some categories there are hundreds of thousands of Australians who will be affected.

What this is about is quite simple—it is about stopping people voting. It is about limiting the franchise, and that is why this committee should not take this decision lightly. This is a provision in relation to closure of the rolls. There has been no provision in electoral law since the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia 105 years ago that is going to have more impact on limitation of the franchise than what is being proposed by the government in this legislation. Let me go back through some of the history of that key time between the date of the election announcement and the date of the closure of the rolls. Here is the history.

The 1940 election was announced on 20 August and the date of the roll closure was 30 August—10 days. The next election was announced on 24 June 1943 and the rolls closed on 16 July 1943, so there were 22 days between the election announcement and closure of the rolls. In 1946 the election was announced on 30 July and the date of the closure of the rolls was 21 August—22 days. In 1949 the election was announced on 26 October and the date of the roll closure was 31 October—five days. The 1951 election was announced on 16 March and the date the rolls closed was 28 March—12 days. The 1954 election was announced on 6 April and the rolls closed on 23 April—17 days. The 1958 election was announced on 20 August and rolls closed on 22 October—63 days from announcement to roll closure.

The 1961 election was announced on 12 September; the rolls closed on 3 November—52 days. The 1963 election was announced on 15 October; the date of the roll closure was 1 November—17 days from announcement to roll closure. The 1966 election was announced on 12 October; the rolls closed on 31 October—19 days from announcement to roll closure. The 1969 election was announced on 20 August; the rolls closed on 29 September—40 days. The 1972 election was announced on 10 October; the rolls closed on 2 November—23 days. The 1974 election was announced on 10 April; the rolls closed on 20 April—10 days.

The 1975 election was an extraordinary one and there are some changes to the statistics here. There were two roll closures. The election was announced. In fact, the government was sacked and the election was forced by the Governor-General on 11 November 1975. The rolls closed in the ACT, the Northern Territory and all states except Western Australia and South Australia on 17 November, which was six days, but in Western Australia and South Australia the rolls closed on 21 November, which was 10 days. The 1977 election was announced on 27 October; the rolls closed on 10 November—14 days.

The 1980 election was announced on 11 September; the rolls closed on 19 September—eight days. 1983 was the exception to the rule—and I will come back to that. The election was announced on 3 February 1983 by Mr Fraser and the rolls closed on 4 February—one day. There was pandemonium at the polling booths. The 1984 election was announced on 8 October; the rolls closed on 2 November—25 days. The 1987 election was announced on 27 May; the rolls closed on 12 June—16 days.

The 1990 election was announced on 16 February; the rolls closed on 26 February—10 days. The 1993 election was announced on 7 February; the rolls closed on 15 February—eight days. The 1996 election was called on 27 January; the rolls closed on 5 February—nine days. The 1998 election was called on 30 August; the rolls closed on 7 September—eight days. The 2001 election was called on 5 October; the rolls closed on 15 October—10 days from announcement to roll closure. Finally, the 2004 election was called on 29 August; the rolls closed on 7 September—nine days.

With one exception—1983—there has always been time between the announcement of an election and the closure of the rolls, which is the key thing to maximise the franchise, to allow people to participate in the election process in this country. It is a fundamental responsibility and right of each and every citizen of this country. Each and every Australian has a right to be involved, a right to vote. It should not be a privilege that is afforded to some people by this contemptible government. It should be a right for every eligible Australian. Those people have to be given an opportunity.

What is the exception in that pattern that I have gone through, from the 1940 election to the 2004 election—elections over a period of 64 years? The one exception is 1983, when the former Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, wanted to get into a fix to try to catch the Labor Party with its pants down. Of course, he ought to know—he got caught with his pants down. We all know what happened in that election. One day was given. It was a trick, a fix, a rort and a stunt, but it did not work. It backfired, as those of you who were involved in politics at the time will remember. I certainly was; I was a Labor Party official in those days, and proud of it. Many people in the chamber today were involved in politics then, working on polling booths and being very active in political campaigns for all different parties. That is their absolute right and entitlement. They would know what a fiasco there was at the polling booths. There were queues everywhere. There were people trying to get declaration and provisional votes. It was a shemozzle from early in the morning until after the polls closed at night. There were queues. It was a complete fiasco because people did not have an opportunity to get their enrolment right.

Most Australians are well motivated. They are not contemptible and despicable, like this government; they are actually very well-motivated people. They want to do the right thing. They want to be involved in the democratic process. They want to have an opportunity to cast a vote. They care about it. They care about who the government of their country is. They take it seriously. They want to be involved. Why should they not be involved? It is not a matter of who they are going to vote for or who they do vote for. Whether they vote for the Liberal Party, the Labor Party, the Greens, the Democrats, The Nationals or the Callithumpians, it is their right to vote for whomever they want. That is their democratic right.

All the Labor Party is saying, supported by minor parties in this chamber, is: ‘Give people a chance.’ Here is a fundamental example of the principle of a fair go. Give people a fair go, an opportunity to cast a vote for the candidate or political party of their choice in an election. I happen to believe that each and every one of us in parliament has a very grave responsibility to try to ensure that that occurs. Of course we have to defend the integrity of our electoral system. Of course we have to ensure that our electoral system is independent. Of course we have to ensure that an electoral system that hitherto has been believed to be as good as any, if not better than any other in the world, is protected and defended.

The fundamental principle is a right to cast a vote, to be involved and to participate. Everyone has an equal vote and an equal say in the future of their country. That is what the Labor Party stands for and it is what this parliament ought to stand for, but it is being undermined, diminished and ignored by this contemptible government, which is riding roughshod over the democratic rights of Australian citizens. This is despicable. It is the most disgusting provision that this government has ever brought forward into this parliament and it ought to be rolled right out the door.