Labor’s dodgy Bill to deal with dodgy HTV cards
Labor has shown yet again that it cannot be trusted – the Bill the Government put forward to deal with dodgy how-to-vote cards is itself dodgy.
A Legislative Council Select Committee looking at the 2010 State Election has recommended the Government’s Electoral Act Amendment Bill not proceed in its current form.
“Attorney-General John Rau put forward the Electoral Bill saying it would deal with dodgy HTV cards – but the bill is dodgy,” Shadow Attorney-General Stephen Wade said today.
“The key clause is based on a section of the Commonwealth Electoral Act which has been in for 71 years, yet there has never been a successful prosecution under it. In fact, the Australian Electoral Commission has recommended that the section be repealed.”
The majority of the Committee found:
“The distribution of bogus how-to-vote cards by the Australian Labor Party in selected marginal seats at the 2010 General election fell short of community expectations of the standards of a political party and undermined public trust in the democratic processes of the State”.
“Unsurprisingly, the Australian Labor Party failed to appear before the Committee to justify its behaviour,” Mr Wade said.
“During the recent NSW election, Labor Party volunteers were stopped from using dodgy HTV cards which falsely claimed to be a Liberal card. This incident and the placing of allegedly unauthorised posters and claims of people “double voting” are the basis of a Supreme Court challenge to Labor’s win in Woollongong.
“The Committee unanimously supported a full disclosure approach to try to avoid dodgy HTV cards in the future.
“Under the proposal, only HTV cards or second preference HTV cards – which have been lodged with the Electoral Commission at least seven days before Election day – would be allowed to be distributed in the vicinity of a polling place on polling day.
“Other important matters dealt with included improvements in postal voting arrangements, particularly in the regions of the State, providing access to people with disability and those living in the APY lands.”