Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I speak on the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Counting, Scrutiny and Operational Efficiencies) Bill 2021, the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Party Registration Integrity) Bill 2021 and the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Offences and Preventing Multiple Voting) Bill 2021. Labor supports this package of bills. They implement a number of recommendations of the multipartisan Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. They also make some efficiency and technical amendments, as requested by the Australian Electoral Commission. Labor always considers proposals for electoral reform thoughtfully because any changes directly affect our democracy. We have done that with these bills and believe that the amendments will strengthen our electoral system.

The Electoral Legislation Amendment (Counting, Scrutiny and Operational Efficiencies) Bill 2021 makes amendments aimed at streamlining the AEC's processes so that it can deliver a timely election result. Conducting an election is a massive exercise for the AEC. The commissioner described it as Australia's largest peacetime logistical event. It's made harder because we don't have fixed terms federally, despite every mainland state having them. So this bill will allow the early opening and sorting of prepoll House of Representatives ballot papers from 4 pm on election day, but, importantly, counting won't start until 6 pm. Declaration votes may be opened and placed in a secure ballot box up to five days before polling day.

These simple changes will save a huge amount of time for the AEC and lessen the time that Australians have to wait to find out the election result, which I confidently predict at this stage will be an Albanese Labor government. Scrutineers will be able to view all aspects of this process, and increased penalties will apply for anyone disclosing information prior to 6 pm on election night.

The other big change this bill makes is to limit the prepoll period to 12 days. The 2019 prepoll ran for nearly three weeks, increasing costs and staffing challenges for the AEC. This also has an impact on parties and candidates, and, it must be said, a significant impact on smaller parties and independents. While it provides flexibility for voters, it means that they're going to the polls before they're armed with all of the policy information needed to make an informed choice. More and more people are voting by prepoll at each election, but the majority do so in the week before polling day. In fact, in 2019, 50 per cent of prepoll votes were cast in the last five days, so this change will not affect the majority of prepoll voters.

Labor supports in principle the shortening of the prepoll period, but there must be some flexibility for the AEC while we're grappling with this terrible pandemic. If this government had done its job on vaccine and quarantine, we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now, with half the country in lockdown and experts predicting that cases in New South Wales could rise to 2,000 a day. Only about 25 per cent of the Australian population is fully vaccinated, so there's no way we can safely have an election now, yet one could be announced at any time. That's why we've sought assurances from the government that there will be further legislation to deal with the JSCEM's recommendations from its inquiry on the future conduct of elections operating in times of emergency situations.

The government has advised that the legislation will allow the commissioner to extend both the period of prepoll voting and the permissible reasons for voting early. It's important that the commissioner have the ability to make these changes if that becomes necessary. There are further technical and efficiency measures in the bill that I won't go into, except to say that Labor supports them, as they will assist the AEC to do its job in what will be very difficult circumstances.

The party registration integrity bill increases the minimum number of members a non-parliamentary party needs to be federally registered. Currently a party needs 500 members; this bill will increase that to 1,500. The federal jurisdiction is the easiest in which to register a party, when taking population into account. New South Wales, with a population of eight million, requires 750 members; Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia all require 500 members; in South Australia it's 200; and in Tasmania it's 100. In 1984, when party registrations were introduced, a minimum membership was set at 500. Our population was then 15½ million. We now have 26 million people, so 1,500 is a reasonable number and is intended to ensure a party has real community support.

Many minor parties already meet the proposed threshold: the Animal Justice Party; the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party; Pauline Hanson's One Nation; the Sustainable Australia Party; and the Liberal Democratic Party. Other parties will have three months to increase their membership. Party registration brings benefits. A registered party can run candidates in all 151 House of Representatives seats; it can have its name appearing underneath the names of its candidates on the ballot paper; and a registered party's name will appear above the line on the Senate ballot paper, increasing its chances of having a candidate elected. It is justifiable that, for registration, a party must show that it has national support. Requiring only a small number of members leaves the door open for people with deep pockets to run bogus campaigns, represented by nothing but their money—no real support; just dollars, influence and privilege.

I note that the member for Hughes, Craig Kelly, wanted the threshold reduced to 1,000. Mr Kelly says the bill will make it difficult for independent voices to be heard, but there is nothing to stop an Independent running for parliament. I suspect Mr Kelly is more worried that he will lose his seat at the next election and the United Australia Party won't be able to find enough members to retain their registration. Fundamentally, if you can't inspire 1,500 people across Australia to join your party, I fail to see how you can inspire the nation to vote for you.

This bill also prevents parties being registered with a name containing a word that is in the name of an earlier registered party. It also prevents similar logos from being used. A decision by the AEC under the provisions is reviewable by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Voters deserve to have a clear choice at the next election, and the changes ensure that there is no confusion between different political parties. We know that some parties deliberately try to confuse voters by registering themselves with names sounding similar to those of parties already in existence. This bill seeks to address that and limit the influence of big money.

The last bill in this package, the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Offences and Preventing Multiple Voting) Bill 2021, makes it clear that the existing offence of interference with political liberty includes conduct such as stalking, harassment, violence, property damage and obscene or discriminatory abuse. Labor deplores any acts of violence, intimidation, or abuse in any context. We must never accept behaviour designed to intimidate or disrupt someone exercising their democratic rights. This amendment will help ensure the safety of participants in the process.

This bill also introduces the new category 'designated elector' to address multiple voting. Multiple voting is rare, it must be said. The Electoral Commissioner has described the number of multiple votes received as 'vanishingly small'; it's something like 0.01 per cent. When it does occur, it's usually older or infirm people who have simply forgotten that they have already voted. Nevertheless, this bill will address this. Designated electors will be able to vote only by declaration vote to ensure that only one vote is counted. To be placed on the register, the Electoral Commissioner must have a reasonable suspicion that the person has voted more than once, a decision that in itself is reviewable by the AAT. The person's status as a designated elector can't be disclosed to anyone, not even polling booth officials. Labor consistently fought against voter ID laws. Requiring people to provide identification discourages some people from voting [inaudible] democracy and something we should all be proud of. Because a polling official will be unable to identify a designated voter, they will have no cause to ask someone for ID. We have received assurances from the government and the commissioner that this change will not enable anyone to ask for voter ID. It is on this basis that Labor is supporting this amendment.

In closing, I must say that there's more work to be done on electoral reform. The Morrison-Joyce government needs to properly fund the AEC so that it can raise enrolment levels in the Northern Territory. I understand Senator McCarthy has a second reading amendment on that issue. We need real-time disclosure of political donations and a fixed disclosure threshold of $1,000 so that voters know who is donating to parties, how much and when. To level the playing field so elections aren't run on the basis of who has the deepest pockets, we need caps on electoral expenditure. We need truth-in-political-advertising laws to prevent the dangerous spread of disinformation—things spouted by the likes of Clive Palmer, Craig Kelly and George Christensen. But those changes, I suspect, will have to wait for the next Albanese Labor government. I would like to thank Carol Brown, who has carriage of this matter in anticipation, for her assistance in this matter. I thank Minister Morton for his consultation throughout this process.