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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Wednesday, 31 March 2004) . . Page.. 1447 ..

non-enrolment, it still represents an alarmingly high number of ACT residents who are not participating in our democratic process.

I believe that an increased education and enrolment effort is needed between elections if we are to make serious inroads into this problem. There are many reasons why some young people do not enrol to vote, and it is impossible to expect a 100 per cent enrolment level. Nevertheless, I believe that we can and should do better than current levels. Every effort should be made to encourage young Canberrans to participate in our democracy. Information and education are crucial to this goal.

Misinformation about the system is rife among those who are not currently enrolled. I recently met some young people who, for one reason or another, had overlooked enrolling for the last election. They informed me, rather reluctantly, that they remained off the roll for fear of being prosecuted for their earlier mistake. This is an unwarranted fear. The AEC states clearly: “Where a person may have overlooked the responsibility to enrol and vote, the Australian Electoral Commission’s main interest is to ensure that eligible people do actually enrol.”

Section 101 (7) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 states:

Where a person sends or delivers a claim for enrolment, or for transfer of enrolment, to a Divisional Returning Officer or an Australian Electoral Officer, proceedings shall not be instituted against that person for any offence…committed before the claim was so sent or delivered.

This means that, once a person gives the AEC a completed enrolment form, the AEC cannot prosecute the person for not enrolling before, no matter how long he or she has technically been in breach of the law. Therefore, people can be assured that anyone who had overlooked current enrolment in the past and who now decides to enrol to vote may do so without fear of incurring a penalty. This is but one example of the need for increased education on electoral methods, and I am sure members will have many similar examples.

The second point in this motion today calls on the ACT Electoral Commission to examine ways to encourage young people to enrol to vote and gives a few suggestions for how this might be achieved. These suggestions are by no means exhaustive, and I acknowledge that the ACT Electoral Commission have a variety of programs in place already and have also been testing a number of pilot projects over the past few years.

Two examples of projects that have had a positive effect on enrolments in the ACT are the active use of data-matching technologies and the introduction of a government-wide change-of-address form with provision for electoral enrolment. The most recent report of the Electoral Council of Australia—a consultative council of electoral commissioners and chief electoral officers from the electoral authorities of the Commonwealth, states and territories—places high priority on the enrolment of young people.

The Electoral Council’s report on a continuous roll update program for 2001-02 states:

The most effective program is that undertaken by the VEC in which Board of Studies data is matched to the roll and an enrolment reminder in the form of a birthday card is mailed to 7 year olds. Further use is made of Victorian Tertiary

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