Page 1218 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 April 1994
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It went on to say:
From the machine's point of view, this could produce the wholly unacceptable result that the party's elected representatives in the Assembly were there because they were popular with voters, rather than beholden to the machine. It might even produce the result that the voters, having made their own assessments of the candidates, reject altogether the candidates most favoured by the machine.
The architect of Robson rotation, Neil Robson, was quoted in the Canberra Times the previous day as saying:
One of the main principles was it [the rotation] was there so there could be no undue influence of the party over apathetic voters.
Allowing how-to-vote cards is no more than setting a scene for parties to influence voters. How-to-vote cards are totally at odds with the intent of Robson rotation.
In summary, Madam Speaker, I believe that how-to-vote cards are useless and totally illogical to be used in conjunction with Robson rotation; that canvassing within 100 metres of a polling place is potentially offensive and certainly unnecessary; that the risks arising from the prohibition on publishing candidates' names without their consent could give rise to major difficulties with how-to-vote cards; and that the use of how-to-vote cards is contrary to the philosophy of Robson rotation. The maturity of the ACT electorate can, and must, be trusted to deliver a sensible outcome in the next and following elections without the need for how-to-vote cards. If people in the USA and New Zealand, as well as Tasmania, can exercise their democratic right to vote without how-to-vote cards, surely the electors of the ACT can be expected to do the same.
Madam Speaker, my position is clear, and I fully support recommendation 14 of the Working Party on the Implementation of the Hare-Clark Electoral System, chaired by a member of this chamber, Mr Humphries, which states:
No canvassing should be allowed within 100 metres of a polling place, as specified in the Tasmanian Electoral Act of 1985.
In support of this view, the working party further states:
It is recommended that such a ban apply in the ACT Electoral Bill, though it should be noted that this recommendation is not inconsistent with recommendation thirteen ...
Recommendation 13 states:
The ACT Electoral Bill should contain no ban on the distribution of election material on the day of polling.
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