Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Australian Greens amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 8228 revised together:

(1) Clause 2, page 2 (at the end of the table), add:

(2) Page 45 (after line 5), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 3—Polling Day Enrolment

Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918

1 At the end of section 98

Add:

(6) A provisional vote cast under section 235 by a person who is entitled to enrolment, but is not currently enrolled, shall qualify as a claim to enrolment under this section.

2 At the end of subsection 102(5)

Add:

(5A) If a claim under section 101 is made on the polling day for an election; then, despite subsection (4):

(a) the claim must be regarded as having been received before the start of the suspension period; and

(b) if the claimant's name is entered on the Roll in accordance with the claim, the enrolment must, in relation to any vote recorded by the claimant in an election, be regarded as having been effected before the start of the suspension period.

3 At the end of subsection 235(1)

Add:

; or (f) the person makes a claim for enrolment on the polling day of an election.

4 After subsection 235(3)

Insert:

(3A) A person mentioned in paragraph (1)(f) must present to the polling official:

(a) a claim for enrolment in accordance with section 101; and

(b) any of the following evidence as to the person's identity:

(i) if the person holds a driver's licence issued under the law of a State or Territory, or a law in force in Norfolk Island—that driver's licence;

(ii) if the person holds an Australian passport—that Australian passport;

(iii) an attestation as to the person's identity that is in the approved form and signed by another person who is enrolled;

(iv) any other evidence of the person's identity that is of a kind prescribed by the regulations for the purpose of this paragraph.

Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984

5 At the end of subsection 37(1)

Add:

; or (f) the person makes a claim for enrolment on the polling day for an election.

6 After subsection 37(3)

Insert:

(3A) A person mentioned in paragraph (1)(f) must present to the polling official:

(a) a claim for enrolment in accordance with section 101 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918; and

(b) any of the following evidence as to the person's identity:

(i) if the person holds a driver's licence issued under the law of a State or Territory, or a law in force in Norfolk Island—that driver's licence;

(ii) if the person holds an Australian passport—that Australian passport;

(iii) an attestation as to the person's identity that is in the approved form and signed by another person who is enrolled;

(iv) any other evidence of the person's identity that is of a kind prescribed by the regulations for the purpose of this paragraph.

This amendment provides a mechanism whereby Australians who are eligible to vote but who might not be on the electoral role—or, alternatively, are on the role but not at the correct address—can enrol to vote or update their address at a polling centre on election day, or, if they go earlier, at an early voting centre. It's a very straightforward amendment. It basically says: if you're not enrolled or if you're enrolled at the incorrect address, you can update your enrolment details when you go to vote at a polling booth. Effectively it means that those people who, for whatever reason, don't have the correct details on the electoral role are able to update them on the day of the election.

When you've got compulsory voting you do have an obligation to make sure that people are enfranchised to vote, yet we've got something in the order of a million Australians missing from the electoral roll. Many people often don't know that there's an election until well after enrolments have closed—that's just the reality—and it disproportionately affects first-time voters, young Australians, often who move regularly. The Australian Electoral Commission found that nearly half of all 18-year-olds weren't on the roll for the 2013 federal election.

Election day enrolment does exist in some state jurisdictions. It exists in Victoria and New South Wales, and there's no reason why it can't exist at a federal level. We need to make sure that we give people who are disenfranchised an opportunity to participate on election day. Some of them arrive at a polling booth thinking that they are enrolled and they're not, or, alternatively, their details are incorrect.

Of course there are things that need to happen beyond simply election day enrolments—for example, making sure that all young people, when they are eligible to vote, are automatically enrolled to vote. There are some provisions already within the AEC that allow for automatic enrolment, but it's not comprehensive; it needs to be much broader. There are other opportunities for the AEC to use existing databases to ensure that all Australians are on the electoral roll at the time of the election, but, in the absence of that, at a very minimum, we should allow individuals who attend a polling booth on election day to update their details, allow those votes to be counted as provisional votes, and then, once they are verified, ensure that those individuals' votes are counted. It is so critical, at a time when young people, particularly, are being disenfranchised, that we give them every opportunity to participate in the democratic process.