Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service and Integrity) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for her contribution. I would just make some observations about the opposition's amendments. Firstly, what we are dealing with here is direct updates and direct enrolments. We are not dealing with automatic enrolments. We are dealing with measures that are designed to address the nearly 1.5 million eligible Australians who are not currently on the electoral roll. And we are dealing with trusted sources of information, and only trusted sources of information.

The changes that were made to the act in 2012 were changes which improved the integrity of the electoral roll—they did not diminish it—and these measures further enhance the integrity of the electoral roll. Further, the shadow minister points to the removal of the requirement for a declaration to be made in application for an early vote. This really brings the Electoral Act into line with current custom and voting practice. Increasingly people are seeking to vote early, so increasingly we need to have an Electoral Act and a process which accommodate that need in our community. While the shadow minister and I would agree on a voter listening to all of the arguments and concluding appropriately, on the eve of the election and consistent with media blackouts 48 hours before elections—the idea of the one-day national decision—our country and its 14 million voters think differently, and people do wish to vote early.

In my own electorate there are a very large number of mine workers, and it is often the case that those mine workers are away during election week and, even under the existing provisions, have difficulty casting their votes. These measures will make it easier and also facilitate the voting process by giving greater certainty as to when earlier voting will take place. The measures respond to recommendations of the Australian Electoral Commission and are supported by the majority view of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.

The opposition's amendments also make the period for early voting shorter than it currently is. In 2007, my first election, I had the great pleasure of being invited down to Stirling Navy base for the departure of an Australian vessel heading off to the Gulf. The then defence minister Brendan Nelson spoke eloquently as the ship left, and every one of those crewmembers who were domiciled in Rockingham in my electorate were able to vote, and vote they did.

I have mentioned the importance of fly-in fly-out workers, and through Northern Queensland drive-in drive-out workers are important. The nature of our economy is changing. The nature of the way in which our communities interact with voting and the electoral process is changing. These changes simply keep our electoral process abreast of where our community is at, and therefore I oppose the amendments being offered by the opposition.

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