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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3771 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

Having acknowledge that that is what we did, the point at which I agree with the comments of the Chief Minister in explaining the government's opposition to this bill is that, whilst those particular bans remain in force, we do not believe that it is appropriate to take this step to provide for a single A4 sheet to represent the views or voting intentions of each party or to describe or explain the position a particular party will take. To that extent, I agree with the comments of the Chief Minister.

Under Hare - Clark - with Robson rotation, with a ban on how - to - vote cards, with a ban on canvassing within 100 metres - the electoral system has moved to a point where this particular proposal, in the view of the Labor Party, does not have the capacity to meet the need that Ms Tucker is allegedly seeking to meet by providing for a single A4 sheet of paper to be provided in each polling booth. It flies in the face of the system that is in place, the system that is embraced by certain people around the place.

The Chief Minister is right about the Hare - Clark system. To date, it has been embraced by the people of Canberra. It gives choice. It has some attractive characteristics. There are aspects of it that the former government delivers that I still have some issues with. I am still not convinced that in all instances it is an adornment to the democratic process, but to this point it has been embraced. The Robson rotation is an integral part of the system. Through this place, we have added to the system - I do not think we have adorned it - by banning how - to - vote cards and canvassing for votes at polling places.

We should look at those two initiatives before we take this other step of seeking to assist voters who have some difficulty in making a choice or casting a vote. It will not deliver a result or meet the stated purpose. It simply will not achieve the purpose Ms Tucker believes it can achieve, and the Labor Party will not be supporting it.

MR MOORE (Minister for Health, Housing and Community Care) (4.05): I will be opposing this piece of legislation. It misunderstands how the Hare - Clark system is supposed to work. The Hare - Clark system is designed specifically to allow for people who wish to do a party vote to have that vote distributed evenly. Somebody who wishes to do a party vote ought to write 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 under the party name. Somebody who wishes to support a specific candidate, say Mr Stanhope, no matter what position Mr Stanhope has, puts 1 next to Mr Stanhope. The other votes are distributed evenly. I believe that this method Ms Tucker proposes undermines that concept.

MS TUCKER (4.06), in reply: Mr Moore tells me that I misunderstand the Hare - Clark voting system, and that it will operate in the way it was determined to operate regardless of what the ACT community feels or wants to do. If people want some kind of guidance, they are not allowed to have that guidance, because Mr Moore has this purist theory about the Hare - Clark system, as does Mr Humphries.

Surveys were undertaken by the Electoral Commissioner at the 1998 election, which was the first election at which there was a ban on how - to - vote cards. Market research found that 37 per cent of voters said they found how - to - vote cards useful. At an exit poll on election day, 15 per cent of voters said they found it a problem that how - to - vote cards were not available to them.

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