Page 1202 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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MR HUMPHRIES: That must be the case. Clearly he does. I think he might find that those donkeys are going to give him a very big kick at the next election if he does not watch out. I want to quote from a couple of people who have worked very long and hard with Hare-Clark with Robson rotation. Doug Lowe was the Premier of Tasmania for several years. He was a Labor Premier of Tasmania and I met with him when I visited Tasmania in October/November last year. He said that he strongly supported the maintenance of a ban in that State on how-to-vote cards. He said that he sees the ban as an excellent idea, and he feels that there is no greater informality of votes within the system because of the operation of that ban.
Is there a high informality under the system as put forward in Tasmania because of the ban on how-to-vote cards? I would suggest that there is not. In the 1992 election in that State there was a whole of State average of 5.3 per cent informal voting. The average informal vote for the House of Representatives, where generally the ballot-paper is much shorter in that State, was 3.3 per cent at about that time, or in recent years. So there is a very insignificant difference between those two. Some of the informal voting can be accounted for by the longer ballot-paper, and much of it can be accounted for by deliberate informal voting. There is no argument that informal votes are significantly avoided by having how-to-vote cards.
I believe, Madam Speaker, that there is also a high degree of support from ordinary voters for the position we have taken in this place. I believe that we will prove that by taking to the next election campaign a strong promise to the people of the ACT to ban the how-to-vote cards which they have thrust in their faces during this coming campaign. I am sure that voters who find difficulty in working out the difference between the Robson rotation ballot-paper and the order of candidates that appears on the how-to-vote cards will in many cases say to themselves, when they see that confusion, "What is the point of doing this? Why am I put in this position?". I am sure that they will say that the position adopted by the Liberal Party and the Independents on this matter, that how-to-vote cards are inappropriate, is the better position. I believe that it may even result in some votes coming in our direction. People will not forgive the confusion which how-to-vote cards will engender in this debate.
Ms Follett: You are out of time, Gary.
MR HUMPHRIES: Madam Speaker, I commend this amendment to the Assembly. Thank you for the de facto extension of time.
Debate (on motion by Ms Follett) adjourned.
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