Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

I am sure that you would have had a crack at anything, Senator Sterle. In fact, Senator Sterle is Labor’s junior attack puppy here in the Senate. He had a very broad-ranging discussion which, as I said, very rarely even reflected on the legislation that we are talking about, which makes some very positive contributions to the Electoral Act. Interestingly, considering the debate that we have heard here this evening, the report was unanimously supported by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration following its recent inquiry. That actually makes the contributions that have been made to this debate somewhat more amusing. I do not think it is really worth chasing all of those comments down, but it really was an object in retrospectivity that Labor was playing through the debate.

This bill is the second part of government’s response to recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in its report on the 2004 federal election. I would like to thank the chairman and members of that committee for the comprehensive inquiry and the report. The measures in this bill build upon the electoral reform measures passed by the parliament in June 2006 and will improve the participation in our democratic process. The major provisions in the bill relate to electronic voting trials, improvements to voting arrangements and proof of identity requirements for Australians enrolling from overseas.

The electronic voting trials are significant, as they will be the first conducted for a federal election. The trial for blind or vision-impaired people has been extremely well received. The trial will allow these people to cast an independent secret ballot for the first time at a federal election. This will be done through the use of electronically assisted voting machines. The trial will be conducted in up to 30 prepoll voting centres across Australia. The Electoral Commission is working very closely with organisations such as Vision Australia to ensure that the locations are known to people with this disability so that the participation in the trial can be maximised. If the trial proves to be successful, the government will consider expanding the number of locations at the 2010 election.

The second trial will allow Australian Defence Force personnel serving outside Australia to cast a vote electronically. This trial will overcome the many difficulties associated with voting options for Defence Force personnel overseas and will allow them to vote in safety. It is estimated that approximately 1,500 Defence Force personnel who were overseas for the 2004 election missed out on having their say. This was about one-third of the Defence Force deployed overseas at that time. This trial will give Defence Force personnel serving overseas that important opportunity to have their say. The AEC is working in close cooperation with the Department of Defence on the technical issues associated with the trial. The government welcomes the defence department’s cooperation on this matter. As my colleague the Special Minister of State indicated during debate in the other place, the government will consider extending electronic voting to other personnel serving outside Australia if this trial is successful.

The government welcomes the support for these trials, and I would like to reassure the Senate that neither of these trials are precursors to electronic voting generally. Defence Force personnel who are overseas will also benefit from provisions in the bill for automatic registration as postal voters. This provision will also apply to Australian Federal Police personnel serving overseas and to eligible overseas voters. It will mean that they will be sent postal-voting material automatically once the election has been announced. Most importantly, they will not have to apply for their postal vote and therefore lose more time in waiting to receive the ballot paper. This will reduce any time delays associated with getting the postal vote out to them and the return of that vote.

Other improvements to postal-voting arrangements will enhance the prospects for people to receive postal-voting material in time to be able to return their postal vote for inclusion in the count. The AEC needs time to get the ballot paper back to people so that they can post it and have it postmarked in time to be an eligible vote. The measures will allow the AEC to assess the most practicable and reasonable means of delivering postal material to electors, taking into account postal delivery schedules and considering means other than postal delivery, including via courier.

The government is also concerned that many people who seek to vote as a postal voter miss out on voting because, while they may have lodged an application on time, the processing of that application, including the return posting of ballot papers, may not occur in time for the vote to be included in the count. Often a voter thinks that their vote has arrived in time when it has not.

This bill provides that the AEC will not be required to send postal voting material where applications are received after 6 pm on the Thursday before polling day. However, in this circumstance the AEC will be required to contact those people whose applications are received after this deadline and advise them of alternate voting options. These options will include casting a prepoll vote on the Friday or making arrangements to attend a polling booth on polling day. The AEC will do all that it can to contact these electors. This provision will ensure that these people have the best possible chance of having their vote counted.

The bill also expands on the list of AEC personnel who will be able to accept postal votes, thus providing greater flexibility and broader options for the return of postal votes in time for inclusion in the count. In addition to these legislative measures, the AEC will conduct an extensive advertising campaign to alert people to postal voting issues. As honourable senators will recall, legislation passed in June 2006 introduced proof of identity requirements for enrolment to strengthen the integrity of the electoral process. Regulations giving effect to these requirements are currently before parliament and will commence in April this year. The government has delayed commencement of the new requirements until after the New South Wales election. This follows a request by the New South Wales Premier to avoid confusion about enrolment requirements for state and federal jurisdictions.

This bill also introduces alternate proof of identity documentation that may be provided by Australians enrolling from overseas. These people will be able to provide their Australian passport number as an alternative to their drivers licence number. This is in recognition of the difficulty that they may have in meeting the new proof of identity requirements given their location outside Australia and lack of access to the documentation or the classes of electors required under the new scheme.

Other measures in the bill will allow the AEC to respond quickly to changing or unanticipated circumstances to establish prepoll voting centres without the need for prior gazettal, which could cause a delay in voting. The offence provisions for defamation of candidates will also be repealed. This will allow defamation cases to be dealt with in accordance with the existing defamation laws in the relevant state or territory jurisdiction. In closing, I reiterate to the Senate that the measures in this bill are important and will provide a greater scope for people to participate in the democratic process, and this is definitely a good thing. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.