Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I join with the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in thanking the committee secretariat and all committee members, in particular the chair for his leadership in bringing us to this conclusion in this report. The report, as the chair of the committee has outlined, is fairly straightforward. At the end of the day, the issue of cost was the one that was most apparent when we were looking at electronic voting for both people in the Defence Force as well as those who are vision impaired. When we look at costs of $1,159 for Defence Force voters and $2,597 or thereabouts for vision impaired voters versus an average cost of $8.36 per voter, the economics of these decisions become fairly clear. While there are very good intentions amongst all the members of the committee to ensure the franchise is fully extended as far and wide as possible, I think we have to be very responsible in the way we make recommendations on what is a feasible way to go forward.

Also, in considering this matter, it was very useful to think through the issues of electronic voting and the challenges that present themselves with electronic voting. I think we can sometimes think that electronic voting can in many ways solve all the issues that we may face in extending the franchise and democracy. But it is still a tool which is pretty much in its infancy and there are many real dangers that are associated with it. In many jurisdictions around the world where they have gone further down the path on these sorts of issues I think they could not necessarily claim to have greatly increased or even improved at all how they have been able to conduct their elections. So electronic voting remains on the agenda but I think it is viewed by the committee, with the chair’s indulgence, very conservatively and cautiously. Should evidence present itself in the future, should technologies change and should ways of doing this more cost-effectively present themselves then I have no doubt that the committee would be very pleased to look at this matter again and see what opportunities present themselves. But, as it stands, the committee feels that the methods and procedures that we currently have in place to deal with these matters are more than sufficient.

I would also make the point in relation to our defence forces specifically that we are very keen to ensure that those who serve under our flag and our name, defending our values, have every opportunity to cast their vote on the people who will represent them in this place. I join with the chair in drawing attention to recommendation 2, which talks about the appointment of assistant returning officers who will be able to conduct a range of activities to ensure that we meet this objective. To those members of the Defence Force who feel that these do not meet their needs or requirements, we would love to hear from them and we would like to know their concerns. We have obviously worked closely, as has the committee secretariat, with the Department of Defence and defence agencies to understand their views on these matters, but if there are Defence Force personnel who feel that their voice needs to be heard on these matters then our ears are wide open to their concerns.

This is particularly concerning. My colleague the member for Herbert spoke to me this afternoon. He outlined his concerns and his cautions in relation to the Queensland election. He is very concerned that members of the defence forces will not get the opportunity to vote in the Queensland election. For federal elections we have a far more advanced and obviously more efficient system. Together with the member for Herbert—and, I am sure, the member for Fadden—I am concerned that all members of the defence forces should receive the opportunity—

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