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

I table a revised explanatory memorandum relating to the bill and I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

I am pleased to present a Bill to amend the Electoral Act and the Referendum Act which will substantially improve the interactions that Australians have with elections and referendums.

The Bill implements the Government response to several of the recommendations made by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) in its Report into the 2010 Federal Election, specifically, recommendations 3, 9, 10, 11, 15, 29, 30 and 37 and also makes some small technical amendments.

This Bill continues the Government's commitment to ensuring that the Commonwealth electoral roll best represents those Australians who are eligible to vote.

In the 2010 JSCEM Report, the Committee made three recommendations related to maintaining the Electoral Roll. This Bill includes the last of those three measures: a recommendation to allow the Australian Taxation Office to provide enrolment relevant personal information to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

It is achieved by a small amendment to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 which appears in Schedule 1 of this Bill.

Although it is a small amendment on the face of this Bill, it is another important step in assisting the AEC to deliver the most inclusive electoral roll and the Government is proud to be able to deliver this change.

The JSCEM Report makes it clear that there were an estimated 15.7 million Australians eligible to be enrolled but only 14.2 million on the Roll. Consequently, the majority of the Committee agreed with the recommendation that the AEC should have access to information from credible Government sources, such as the ATO to update and maintain the electoral roll.

There are also other small administrative amendments made in the Bill. These amendments deal with when pre-poll voting can commence, when postal vote applications can be received, and removing the requirement that a person who is seeking to use pre-poll voting for an ordinary vote should complete a certificate before they do so.

One of the methods of voting is to vote pre-poll. There are currently two times set out in the Electoral Act when applications for a pre-poll vote can be made. These amendments clarify and establish one time at which pre-poll voting will be available: the fourth day after nominations are declared. For a minimum election timetable nominations are declared on a Friday, making the fourth day afterwards the succeeding Tuesday.

Depending on the type of election, whether it is for the House of Representatives or the Senate or both, the Act currently provides different days for the commencement of pre-poll voting and very minimal times are provided for the AEC to print and distribute ballot materials to early voting centres across Australia in time for polling to commence. This is a sensible small amendment which provides a consistent timeframe for when pre-poll voting can commence.

There is also currently a requirement that a voter complete a written declaration in order to vote by pre-poll as an ordinary voter. This requirement is not consistent with other forms of ordinary voting which only require a verbal declaration, does not serve a useful purpose and will be omitted by this Bill.

One of the matters considered by the JSCEM concerned incidents that occurred in connection with the 2010 Election, where some ballot boxes were opened before they were lawfully authorised to be opened. Since that incident, extra training and support materials will be applied and it is less likely to happen again.

However, although this may be an excess of caution, the Bill contains provisions which expressly clarify the action to be taken with respect to ballots that are contained in prematurely opened boxes. The ballots will be packaged, sent to the Divisional Returning Officer and retained, but not included in the Scrutiny.

Postal voting is increasingly popular. At the 2010 election the Electoral Commission processed over 1,000,000 postal vote applications, which was a 17.8 per cent increase in the number processed at the 2007 election.

Under the existing provisions postal vote applications can be received up to 6 pm on the Thursday that is two days before polling day. Voters are required to cast their vote before the close of polling on Saturday. The limited time between the closing time for applications and Election Day make it highly unlikely that applicants will receive their postal ballot papers in time to cast their vote before the polls close.

This amendment brings the cut-off forward by one day to 6:00pm on the Wednesday three days before polling day. This change is to improve the chance that the AEC can deliver postal voting papers to an elector before the close of the poll.

Of course there are equivalent amendments made to the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984.

The Bill also provides for further fixed periods of time to be provided for the augmented Electoral Commission, to allow it to complete its inquiries into objections against proposed redistributions of electoral boundaries.

All of the measures in the Bill are designed to assist in ensuring that Australia can continue to have a robust and up-to-date electoral system and administration. The recommendations made by the JSCEM in the majority report are both sensible and politically neutral. The Government is committed to ensuring their implementation.

However, in the interests of accountability, the Special Minister of State will write to JSCEM asking that it inquire into and report on the Bill.

I commend the Bill to the Senate.

Debate adjourned.