Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to add some comment, following on from Senator Fierravanti-Wells. The inquiry took in a number of submissions. As Senator Fierravanti-Wells mentioned, we did a site visit to Chatswood, but I would like to add a different perspective on it.

When we got to Chatswood, we had the ability to talk to employees. I noticed at Chatswood that there were a number of employees who had been casual for many, many years. We understand that the load of the Electoral Commission is all go at certain stages, and then there is not a heck of a lot of work to do for the employees afterwards, but I had some concern that no-one had a happy story amongst the employees at Chatswood.

A lot of the employees said that they had come from smaller divisional offices before the co-location and they found in the co-location that, for some reason, there were going to be superoffices to look after members, senators and inquiries and to enrol people on the electoral roll. In their presentation, the employers told us what great employers they were and how happy everyone was. When we actually got to speak to the employees, it was a completely different story. The employers had said, ‘We do our best to give thousands and thousands of people some work.’ I understand that the workload of the Australian Electoral Commission is enormous, but you cannot expect workers to hang on by their fingernails, getting a couple of hours a week, and to be waiting on the end of a telephone line for a call from the Australian Electoral Commission.

I commend the report to the Senate. I think there is a heck of a lot more work to do. I note that in the last election, in 2004, there were some 420,000 voters who enrolled at the last minute. As we know, draconian laws were passed by the Senate not long ago that overturned the ability to do that. For some reason, and I do not know why, the government wanted not to make it as easy as possible for voters to get on the electoral roll but to make it harder for them. It is a travesty, unfortunately, that under this government it is easier to donate to political parties without too much transparency and accountability than it is, sadly, for new voters to get on the electoral roll. We have a lot more work to do. I will be looking forward to doing a lot more work on this committee after the election. On that note, I commend the report to the Senate.

Question agreed to.