Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Fair Competition) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters report on the so-called Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Protecting Elector Participation) Bill 2012. We did not have an opportunity to speak to this the other day because we ran out time. I note the committee report was brought down earlier this week in the House of Representatives and this place, and it follows a report on a similar bill that was also inquired into by the committee.

This bill has an Orwellian name. It is described as a 'protecting elector participation' bill. The truth is that it has nothing to do with protecting elector participation and it has everything to do with conscripting people onto the electoral roll. If we go through the steps of what this bill entails, it will allow people to be added to the electoral roll without their consent and without their knowledge.

In Australia today, enrolling to vote is one of the easiest things you can do. There are some areas of Australia where we have specific programs, particularly in remote areas and for our Indigenous communities, but no-one can allege that there is any systematic attempt to do anything other than encourage people to vote and make it as easy as possible. We have the Australian Electoral Commission outside citizenship ceremonies—