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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3772 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

So a significant number of people in the community feel disadvantaged by the lack of how - to - vote cards. But never mind. They have been told they have to get over that and do the best they can. Mr Moore and Mr Humphries know that they should understand and be total devotees to the Hare - Clark system as it stands and therefore not require any advice.

Of course, we know damn well that the majority of political parties and Independents will be putting out their own information about how they want people to vote, and they will be making it quite clear to voters what their preferences are. Clearly, people are interested to know, especially with Independents. You have no idea what you are getting with an Independent, so people are interested to know whether those they would be supporting are more inclined to be Labor or Liberal. It is very confusing.

Mr Kaine: You do not know even after you have got them.

MS TUCKER: I know. They can be unpredictable, but that is another issue. Mr Humphries also seemed to misunderstand our view. He was implying, as he held up this sheet, that it was going to be plastered all over the polling booth. I think he later contradicted himself. He said that the folder would be dangerous for the environment because it would be covered in plastic. There is such a thing as recyclable plastic, Mr Humphries. You were minister for the environment once, I believe. You might remember that. There is such a thing as recyclable plastic, so that could be accommodated if the will was there.

Mr Humphries was also very concerned about the cost. I had not heard that cost before, but even taking that cost, if it is correct, I do not believe that it is such a terrible disadvantage or that it introduces a bias. There is already a bias in the system. One of the biases is for Independents . They do not have the people power that the larger parties have to do the letterbox drops and so on. This is a way for a less - resourced person to have that information if people are interested. Hopefully, people would be interested to know what exactly Independents stand for. It is their choice. I have to stress that. Mr Humphries seemed to be suggesting that we were forcing people to put particular information on their A4 sheet. That is not correct, if you look at the bill.

Mr Stanhope seems to want more than an A4 sheet. I do not know what I can say about that. The Labor Party will do plenty of campaigning, I am sure, and let the community know what they stand for. It just would not be practicable to give more space than the folders.

The Liberals' position is interesting. At one point they seemed to be supporting this. The select committee that reviewed the recommendations of the Pettit report recommended that the present ban on how - to - vote cards at polling places remain. However, it did note that the ALP supported the reintroduction of how - to - vote cards, that the Greens supported the provision of how - to - vote cards inside polling places, and that the government supported provision of how - to - vote cards in polling booths, subject to the ban outside polling booths being maintained. But the government obviously has a different position now, and they seem to be quite confused about what their position is.

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