Page 5371 - Week 14 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
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Recommendation 2 is that social media profile pages of political parties and candidates are to be authorised—that is, the Facebook page itself or the Instagram or Twitter page—but that individual posts and graphics put up there need not be authorised. That is much more reflective of where we are in the digital age of 2017 and how social media is used and hopefully will bring some clarity to how political communication occurs and save a lot of unnecessary grief on the part of both members and candidates aspiring to enter the Assembly.
I will touch on the decision by the committee to accept the Electoral Commissioner’s recommendation that the penalty for failing to vote be tied to a penalty unit and that the fine be one-quarter of a penalty unit. On review of the number of Canberrans who chose not to vote at the last election and paid the fine as against those who sought to see the process all the way through to court action and the resultant to the Electoral Commission of conducting this work, if was felt there should be a slightly larger disincentive to people not exercising the democratic right. The committee has recommended that the fine be tied to one-half of a penalty unit, which equates to around $75 in today’s terms.
Obviously there needs to be a firm deterrent, and it was the committee’s clear opinion that the current $20 is not a significant deterrent in this day and age for many Canberrans to require them to at least get their name marked off on polling day. In addition, tying the fee to a penalty unit means going forward there will not be a requirement to tinker with this provision drastically as the penalty unit is adjusted annually in line with inflation. That means that it is a set-and-forget provision for the Assembly.
Once again I thank my colleagues from the Assembly who were involved in the committee, particularly Mr Milligan from our side who got more enjoyment from the travel to Tasmania than most of us. Someone found great novelty in a plane trip to Hobart having never flown before. It was a very well-rounded trip where we met with members—Liberals, Greens and Labor—as well as the Electoral Commissioner and a few prominent commentators on the conduct of their elections. It is good to be able to share the obscure and peculiar practices of Hare-Clark electoral systems with another jurisdiction.
Ms Cheyne: They have the ugliest upper house ever.
MR WALL: I will allow Ms Cheyne to elaborate on the brilliant mural of Queen Victoria and the red velvet garbage bins they seem to have in the Tasmanian upper house. Thank you again to the committee secretariat, which did a great job. They went over and above in this inquiry at various times in gathering information from other sources, and it is very much appreciated.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (10.50): I would like to talk firstly about my additional and dissenting comments and then about the main report. What I want to say first is thank you to my fellow committee members. As Mr Wall and Ms Cody said, I think it went well. It was good to talk about something that we are all very passionate about; some in different directions, but there is definitely a lot of passion
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