David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate on behalf of the government that we will not be supporting the amendments proposed by the opposition. This proposed amendment aims to provide certainty about the commencement date for prepoll voting regardless of the type of election. This amendment decreases the minimum early voting period that has been in place since 1990 by a period of two days for Senate-only elections and three days for House-of-Representatives-only elections. It also aims to provide the AEC with sufficient time to print and distribute ballot materials in time for the earliest prepoll voting date. This aspect of the proposed changes is particularly beneficial when an election is run to other than the minimum timetable.

The effect of this amendment is that the AEC would be required to provide early voting services in divisional offices from four days after nominations are declared. A large number of early voting centres would also be open at that time. Under existing arrangements, early voting must commence in divisional offices two days after nominations are declared, which is less than 24 hours after the deadline for lodgement of the Senate group voting tickets. This deadline creates significant logistical challenges when ballot papers must be typeset and proofed, printed and then distributed to the divisional office and early voting centre locations, which are found across Australia, within only a 24-hour window. To meet this deadline currently, the AEC provides PDF versions of ballot papers that can be used by divisional staff until printed ballot papers are delivered. Early voting centres do not open until fully printed ballot papers are available.

It is worth remembering that at the 2010 election there were some 1.5 million votes—an average of 10,000 per division—cast at early voting centres, with just under 14,000 votes—that is, around 100 per division—cast on the first Monday. If the proposed change is approved by the parliament, those voters would now have to wait until the next day to cast their vote.