Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 11 Hansard (30 November) . . Page.. 3550 ..

[2.2] Subsection 3 (1) (definition of referendum ballot paper)-

Add at the end of the definition of referendum ballot paper ", and includes an electronic referendum ballot paper".

[2.3] New subsection 11 (5)-

After subsection (4), insert the following subsection:

'(5)   For this section, a referendum ballot paper may be in electronic form.'.

[2.4] Paragraph 12 (3) (b)-

Omit 'printed'.

[2.5] Paragraph 12 (3) (c)-

Omit 'printed or endorsed', substitute 'contained'.

[2.6] Paragraph 14 (3) (b)-

Omit the words from 'paragraphs' to 'Electoral Act', substitute 'paragraphs 118A (4) (b), 180 (2) (b) and (c) and (3) (a), subparagraphs 182 (4) (c) (ii) and (5) (a) (i) and 184 (1) (b) (i) and subsection 184 (2) of the Electoral Act'.".

I will speak to all of my amendments together because they are interlinked. My intention with the amendments is to insert some form of sunset clause into the bill so that electronic voting and vote counting can be used only in the October 2001 election. I am concerned that the bill as it now stands inserts provisions allowing electronic voting for all future elections. I think it is premature to do so as we do not even know how it will work at the next election.

Having a sunset clause in the bill will force the Assembly to review the use of electronic voting at the next election before we make it a permanent feature of ACT elections, otherwise we can just go back to the tried and tested paper ballot that is currently provided for in the Electoral Act, depending on the way that the electronic voting system performs in the 2001 election.

It would be up to the new government, if it wanted, to propose further amendments to the Electoral Act to provide for electronic voting at future elections. That was my intent, but the parliamentary drafters found that inserting a sunset clause in the bill as currently structured was not as easy as it sounded because the bill contained so many amendments to various parts of the Electoral Act. They have had virtually to restructure the bill by moving all the new provisions relating to electronic voting into a separate schedule of the Electoral Act and putting an expiry date on that schedule.

The expiry date chosen is 30 September 2004, which is just before the election scheduled for October 2004. The reason for this is that it allows electronic votes to be used for any recount of votes after the 2001 election that is necessary to fill casual vacancies in the next term of the Assembly. The bill also amends the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act to allow electronic voting in referendums, so the drafters have had to do a similar restructuring exercise with those amendments so that they will also sunset on the same date.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .