Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Under standing order 74(5)(b), I move:

That the Senate take notice of Senator Brandis's explanation.

That explanation from Senator Brandis was entirely inadequate. This is a serious matter which I placed a detailed question on notice on 12 January 2017, and this is a matter that I have been pursuing since April of 2016—in fact, since 4 April 2016. It arises from the issue of voting rights on Barrow Island, a big development run by Chevron. What happens on Barrow Island is that workers are required to work a four-week roster and then have a couple of weeks off. So, when it comes to voting, these workers are absolutely disenfranchised, because Chevron to date has refused to take up polling facilities so workers are able vote on site.

Firstly, with a four-week working period, it is very difficult for those workers to get to early polling—and, as we know, early polling opens for three weeks before an election. So, if you have four-week cycle that does not coincide with that three-week period, you cannot avail yourself of that opportunity to do early polling. Secondly, it is almost impossible to get a postal vote because, by the time you received it on Barrow Island and got it back, you would be well out of time.

My office was contacted by workers on Barrow Island—this is a matter they had tried to pursue themselves—who asked us to seek an explanation as to why they could not have polling facilities on Barrow Island. Barrow Island, at that point, was employing thousands and thousands of workers from all across the country who were not able to exercise their right to vote.

It is somewhat ironic, for a government that goes on and on about rights, particularly in relation to being able to offend people under 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, that this matter has fallen on deaf ears. We not only put questions on notice to the government about what was happening on Barrow Island and to seek a reasonable explanation of why workers were not able to get a polling place on the island; I also asked questions of the Australian Electoral Commission at Senate estimates. Quite frankly, their answers were equally unimpressive.

We have had a number of answers from the government, all of which have been evasive. We have so far dealt with Senator Ryan, Senator Cormann and, most recently, with Senator Brandis. But not only have the answers to questions been evasive; they have nearly always been uniformly late. So, for Senator Brandis to try and pull a stunt in here today to say that my office had not given him adequate time, when they have had since 4 April 2016 to answer this question—and most recently since 12 January—is a joke. Quite frankly, it is insulting to the thousands of workers on Barrow Island, who continue to be disenfranchised because we cannot get a polling place up there.

To add insult to injury, we were told by the Australian Electoral Commission—and we have also sought answers from Chevron in relation to this matter—that the quarantine requirements of Barrow Island ruled out putting—wait for it—a cardboard box on the island. We took that back to the workforce, and they told us there were other ways around that.

Now, as it so happens, I visited Barrow Island, and prior to going to the island—

Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting—

Yes, the quarantine laws that are in place are absolutely appropriate because it was pristine wilderness and it remains free of pests. We want to keep it that way, so, yes, of course, we have to have very strict quarantine laws in place. But I, along with some of my Labor colleagues, visited Barrow Island at the invitation of Chevron, and I was required as a matter of law to undertake an online safety test before I was allowed on the island. We also went through the normal quarantine procedures when we boarded the plane. But I was told very clearly that I could not go on to Barrow Island until I had done this online safety test, so I did it.

Now you might ask: what has that got to do with anything? Well, sometime later the Prime Minister and an unknown number of people in his party visited Barrow Island. So, given that we have been told that we cannot get a ballot box on Barrow Island because of the quarantine regulations, and having been told that I could not visit Barrow Island without doing this online safety test, we went back and asked the Prime Minister: did you do this, because why should anyone be exempt if we are keeping this island in its pristine state and free from pests and so on? Well, it took about three goes to get an answer that the Prime Minister did not actually do the same required safety test as me, which we thought was extraordinary given that the AEC have told us you cannot put a ballot box on Barrow Island because of the quarantine restrictions.

I was told along with my Labor colleagues that we could not visit Barrow Island without doing the online safety test. But guess what? The Prime Minister goes to Barrow Island, and he does not have to do the safety test. He does not have to do it. So I thought, if you can make an exception for the Prime Minister and the unknown number of people in his party, surely you can make an exception for a cardboard box so workers can cast their ballot papers—and that is the question we went back with.

We have asked I think twice now: how many people were in the Prime Minister's party? We have not been told that. We now know that he did not do the online safety test even though I was told—and it was put in writing—that I could not attend Barrow Island unless I had done the online safety test, and workers have been told that they cannot have voting rights on Barrow Island because somehow the cardboard voting box would breach safety regulations. Yet the Prime Minister goes, and he does not have to follow any of these regulations. So that is the question that we have on notice that remains unanswered.

As I said before, for Senator Brandis to attempt to dismiss that question today is outrageous. We have been trying since 4 April to get an answer to this question, and I do not think any reasonable person would think that it was not okay to provide thousands of workers on Barrow Island with the opportunity to vote. That is what they are asking for, and yet we cannot get straight answers. Chevron, a multinational company that is not paying one cent of tax in this country, has simply ignored my requests for information. We have asked them: what is your objection to setting up a polling station on Barrow Island? Workers, when they are there, do 12-hour shifts. When you have workers on a four-week roster and 12-hour shifts, it seems to me that the most obvious answer would be to simply set up a polling station on Barrow Island. Chevron have refused to answer the question.

Despite us asking the AEC at estimates why we could not set up a polling station on Barrow Island, the best answer we have had to date—and we have had some doozies—is that it is because of these quarantine restrictions, which are so strict they apply to everyone, except the Prime Minister and his unnamed party. We are still waiting for an answer about the number of people in that party. Imagine if 20 people had gone up with the Prime Minister. It is not beyond the pale. Twenty people, none of whom had to do the online safety test that I, along with other Labor members, had to do. That is a big party to land on Barrow Island. But somehow the quarantine restrictions, which are placed on me and the AEC, are lifted for the Prime Minister. I can only conclude that if they are lifted for the Prime Minister then they can be lifted to provide a polling station.

A government that goes on and on about rights are denying workers on Barrow Island the opportunity to have the right to vote. Something as fundamental as the right to vote is being denied to those workers on Barrow Island. Imagine if some of the workers are fined by the AEC for not voting because they could not get to a polling station because of their four-week roster, or they were unable to exercise early voting because of their four-week roster, or the issue of a postal ballot was out of the question because they are on Barrow Island and it takes weeks for the post to get up there. Imagined if they were fined by the AEC for not voting. This is outrageous, and for Senator Brandis to simply dismiss out of hand a question that, at best, has been outstanding since 12 January and at worst outstanding since 4 April is saying to those thousands of workers on Barrow Island, 'Well, actually, we don't really care about your rights.' It was a pretty simple question about why we cannot get beyond the quarantine restrictions on Barrow Island. We seem to be able to lift them for the Prime Minister and his party but cannot get a ballot box up there to enable people to exercise their fundamental right to vote. It is absolute hypocrisy.

For Senator Brandis to dismiss the question out of hand today is not good enough. I will be making sure that the workforce on Barrow Island are told very clearly that today Senator Brandis simply dismissed out of hand why there is still no explanation or satisfactory answer to my question. It is not going to go away. I have pursued this issue since April 2016 through three senators so far and through the estimates process, and we are still waiting. If Senator Brandis thinks of frustrating me further today by refusing to answer the question, he is wrong.