Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to make just a couple of points on those comments. First of all, I think I outlined quite clearly earlier why the information that is provided from a list which is compiled for another purpose and then used either to alter the address of an enrolled voter or to add people to the roll cannot be trusted. It is quite possible that people who are not eligible to be on the roll will be placed on the roll.

Under the act as it was prior to introducing automatic enrolment and updating, it was the obligation of someone once they turned 18 or became a citizen to enrol themselves to vote. That is the compulsory part. You must compulsorily go and enrol yourself to vote. If you do not, you are subject to a penalty. What the automatic provisions have done is to say that, if the government automatically enrols you and you have not bothered to go down and enrol yourself, you are relieved of the obligation of the penalty. That penalty is removed, which really encourages people not to comply with the law and with their obligation to enrol. I and the opposition view the right to vote as a very precious right. When you do these sorts of things, you are lessening its importance because the obligation of the person to enrol is being removed.

With regard to the comment that more and more people are voting earlier, I agree with that, but they are doing it simply because they can. It is simply convenient. I may as well go down to Aldi, and I will go and have a vote at the same time. That is not the purpose that prepoll voting was introduced for. It was introduced for people who legitimately cannot turn up on election day. We believe that that shortened period is enough to satisfy that intention. Underlying this is the important principle that the coalition believes solidly in election day voting, not—as the Electoral Commission seems to be wishing it to be viewed—in an election period. Equally, the change in terminology in the Electoral Act itself from talking about 'electors' to talking about 'persons' I think is also a retrograde step.

But I think it is important that people realise that the information that is being transferred from the tax office in particular—we have always been very particular about information that leaves the tax office, and I do not believe that this is a legitimate purpose—equally is subject to putting errors into the electoral roll.

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