Page 1067 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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Firstly, it was recommended that the campaign period for elections be extended from 10 days to four weeks, allowing more time for candidates to engage with the community. During consultation members of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community suggested that the elected body elections could be moved to capitalise on NAIDOC Week. It was recommended that, as NAIDOC Week is a time when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people come together to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, it would be the best time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans to come together and vote for whom would best advocate the rights, goals and aspirations of their communities.
The Legislative Assembly supported the community’s views when we passed the elected body amendment bill 2012. So this year we will see these changes in action during the third round of elected body elections. Nominations for candidates will open on 19 May with candidates being declared on 3 June 2014. During NAIDOC Week in July, apart from voting at Elections ACT, mobile polling will visit the Winnunga Aboriginal Health Centre, the Southside Community Centre, two child and family centres, the government buildings in Woden and the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
There will also be a polling booth at the Aboriginal Hostels NAIDOC lunch, which is held every Friday in NAIDOC Week in Canberra. The Aboriginal Hostels lunch is a national NAIDOC Week event attended by over 800 people from all over Australia. Not only will the hostels lunch be a convenient polling location for local community members, but it will also showcase to a national audience the ACT’s commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and robust cooperation with government in making policies that make a difference for their communities here in the ACT.
Of course, NAIDOC Week is a week of national celebrations and many will travel interstate to attend events elsewhere in Australia, for example, to the Gold Coast for this year’s national NAIDOC ball. As in previous elections, voting will be supported by postal voting. With the preparations for the upcoming elections in July, the community has provided the ACT government with further advice on how this process will be better fitted to meet their needs, and we have responded with the amendment bill that we are discussing here today.
The community has requested that the election dates be amended to include the NAIDOC ball and awards night which launches NAIDOC Week on the first Saturday prior to the main NAIDOC Week celebrations and NAIDOC on the Peninsula on the Sunday after the NAIDOC ball. These events are attended by a large component of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. The amendments proposed today are to extend the voting period to coincide with the NAIDOC ball and NAIDOC on the Peninsula.
With these changes to the legislation Elections ACT has also included some technical amendments that will maintain clarity and consistency of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body Act 2008 aligning it with evolving legislative drafting conventions in the territory. With the passing of these amendments, polling booths will be available at these most significant NAIDOC events for NAIDOC Week in
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