Page 2940 - Week 08 - Thursday, 17 August 2017
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channels—for example, social media, email and the like—to remind people that the rolls close next Thursday afternoon and that if they wish to participate in the voluntary postal survey, they will need to be on the roll; and if they wish to receive their survey form, they need to have their postal address updated with the Australian Electoral Commission. I would hope that no-one would disagree with that as a reasonable action for the ACT government to undertake.
Presuming the postal survey survives the High Court challenge—this will occur and the rulings and hearings on that will take place in early September—and should it actually go ahead, it is also appropriate for the ACT government to utilise various means of communication, be that social media, media releases and otherwise, to remind people to participate in the postal vote survey and advise them of where they can participate, and provide links to various sources of information, for example, if their postal survey does not arrive or if it happens to be raining on the day that the postal survey arrives and their survey form is spoiled, where they might be able to obtain a new form.
The ACT government will also seek to engage with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to see what we can do to streamline and simplify the submission process. The Australian postal service of 2017 is a very different creature from when I was a youngster, when there was a daily postal service. There was a quite extensive network of postboxes and it was quite easy to physically post a piece of mail. In 2017, it is not quite as it was. So we will look to what we can do to assist those who may not be able to get to a postbox to ensure that they are able to participate in the survey.
I understand other Australian state and territory governments will be doing the same. This is much more pertinent, clearly, in rural and remote areas—for example, in the Northern Territory and Western Australia—but there are people in the ACT who may need assistance in that process, and we will be happy to do what we can within the Australian law as it applies to this postal survey.
Equally, the SpringOut Pride Festival, which has been an annual event in this city for at least 18 years, takes place during the postal vote survey period. We have flown the rainbow flags over this city for this festival in the past and we will do so again this year. We will also, through our new office for LGBTIQ affairs, as part of our community engagement, seek to support the LGBTIQ community with a range of measures. We will make, if it is required, additional funding available to a range of community service providers, mental health organisations and others who support the community during traumatic periods.
There is no doubt that what lies ahead will be traumatic for some. It might be difficult for people in this place, because we are used to every element of our public activities and our lives being under a degree of scrutiny; some more than others, clearly, given the nature and profile of their respective positions in this place. But for many people, the concept of their relationship, their life and their family being the subject of discussion, debate or value judgement by everyone else is, frankly, an appalling concept. I just ask you all to think about this for a moment: would you like everyone else to have a vote on your relationship, its legitimacy and its equality before the law?
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