Page 5366 - Week 14 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
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from all three parties. I should mention initially that this select committee represents the third post-election review of previous ACT general elections.
There were reviews by a standing committee following the 2008 election and by a select committee following the 2012 election. It is worth noting that the conduct of our elections and issues emerging from the electoral process are of ongoing interest to the Assembly.
The ACT Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement committed to the establishment of a select committee to inquire into the 2016 ACT election as well as several other electoral issues. The committee’s terms of reference were to inquire into and report on:
a. lowering the voting age;
b. improving donation rules and donation reporting timeframes;
c. increasing voter participation in elections and encouraging political activity; and
d. any other relevant matter.
Key features of the committee’s inquiry involved the examination of two reports: the ACT Electoral Commission report on the 2016 ACT election and the Auditor-General’s report on the 2016 election. In correspondence with the select committee, the Attorney-General referred the majority of the recommendations from these reports to the committee for its comment and responses. The committee’s responses to proposals set out in the ACT Electoral Commissioner and Auditor-General’s reports form part of its report.
The committee published an issues paper in April, which set out the committee’s areas of interest on matters for inquiry and report in detail, and which also attached the Electoral Commissioner’s report on 2016 ACT election for comment.
The committee wrote to a wide range of persons, organisations, agencies and academic commentators seeking views, along with all candidates who stood for election at the 2016 ACT election. The committee received a good response to its invitation for views and has published all submissions on the committee’s website.
As members are aware, the ACT and Tasmania have the Hare-Clarke electoral system. In order to fully explore the effectiveness of the Hare-Clarke electoral system, the committee made a visit to Tasmania in early September 2017 and held talks with Tasmanian MPs and the Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner. Although the committee discussed a number of important electoral issues and practices, it was how the 100-metre rule works in Tasmanian elections that posed the most interest. This visit was of great value to the committee and assisted its inquiry and deliberations considerably.
The committee held three public hearings between July and September and heard evidence from 30 witnesses, including the three parties represented in the Assembly, and several other smaller parties. Witnesses provided the committee with follow-up information as requested, which was also of assistance to the committee.
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