Legal matters

A look at a proposed electoral law overhaul that focuses largely on issues of specific concern to the Coalition.

The government introduced four electoral reform bills to parliament yesterday. Antony Green offers a good overview that notes what’s missing from the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ inquiry into the 2019 election: the particularly contentions measures of voter identification and optional preferential voting, and arrangements for handling an election during the pandemic, which will presumably have to follow at a later time.

To summarise:

• The most striking is a bill to triple the number of members required of a registered political party to 1500 and to disallow the registration of parties whose names contain, with limited exceptions, words already used in the name of a pre-existing party. The former requirement does not affect the significant exception that exists for parties with seats in parliament, as applies to Katter’s Australian Party, the Centre Alliance and the Jacqui Lambie Network (Antony Green notes it also helped Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party to both register and blag free ABC air time before the last election, not that this proved notably helpful to them). Parties will have three months after the passage of the bill to either pass muster or face deregistration, in which case they will not be identified on ballot papers or eligible for public funding. This would appear to be one in the eye for the Liberal Democrats, who this week confirmed Campbell Newman as their Senate candidate in Queensland.

• A bill encompassing “counting, scrutiny and operational efficiencies” gives effect to JSCEM’s recommendation that the pre-poll voting period should be cut from three weeks to two, which the Coalition, Labor and Greens members were all on board with. It also allows for pre-poll votes to be pre-processed in the two hours before polls close so the actual counting of the votes can begin without delay, which should address an issue of recent election nights in which election day booths are mostly in by 8pm but pre-poll voting centres often aren’t until 11pm to midnight. Similarly, the bill allows for postal votes to be pre-processed so more of them can be counted on Sunday.

• An “electoral offences and preventing multiple voting” bill includes a measure to prevent those suspected of multiple voting from persisting in doing so, and one to target behaviour the Liberal Party has complained of being subjected to by GetUp! activists, specifically “violence, obscene or discriminatory abuse, property damage and harassment or stalking”. Former electoral administrator Michael Maley wonders if the latter measure might capture heckling or asking difficult questions; electoral law expert Graham Orr notes it brings the activities of FriendlyJordies to mind.

• A bill to lower the threshold for which third parties campaigning at elections will have to register as political campaigners, requiring them to file annual financial disclosure returns. The current six-figure threshold does seem on the high side, but the cause of “public confidence in Australia’s political processes” would surely be better served by lowering the threshold for declaring donations to political parties.

Other news:

• The Australian Electoral Commission has published the full panoply of reports and data relevant to the now finalised federal redistributions of Victoria and Western Australia. Antony Green has worked his estimated margins into a finalised 2022 federal election pendulum.

• Rachel Siewert, Greens Senator for Western Australia, announced on social media this week that she will resign her position in the Senate next month. This will allow the party’s preselected lead Senate candidate, Dorinda Cox, to build her profile ahead of next year’s election, a common practice for the Greens.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

3,209 comments on “Legal matters”

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  1. “ Another one who believes that anything other than “Vote 1 Labor” means you must be a Tory.‘

    You do realise that we all see through your pitiful deflections don’t you?

    A reminder – its the placing of the Tories above Labor on your list of preferences that gives the game away … not that you would consider an independent or other (presumably progressive pro environment) party above either.

    I mean, if you advocated voting something like this:

    1. Pro Environment Independent person A
    2. Pro Environment Independent person B
    3. Social justice Independent
    4. Local identity Independent
    5. Reason party candidate
    6. Greens Party candidate
    7. Labor candidate
    8. Liberal Candidate
    9. LDP Candidate
    10. Palmer candidate
    11. One Nation Candidate

    THEN, we’d all be saying …. Bless. P1 is at least true to her stated beliefs and positioning as a bludger. Give her a blue check.

    But no. That’s actually … not you … is it?

  2. Player One @ #2555 Thursday, August 12th, 2021 – 5:55 pm

    Although we are quite likely to vote Liberal federally, because we have seen first hand how ineffectual and useless our local Labor member is under a federal Liberal government (which still seems more likely than not to be returned), we will certainly not be voting Liberal in any NSW election.

    P1 is in no way a Tory.
    Just a passionate advocate for action on climate change.
    If you want real action on CC, vote LNP.
    You know it makes sense.

  3. At the end of the day it’s called a Two Party Preferred result for a reason. Your vote either ends up with one party of government (except in Melbourne, of for the Cross Benchers), or another.

    So you can put as many Independents as you like before Labor or Liberal, but it’s where you put Labor and the Liberal Party that counts. ‘Counts’ being the operative word.

  5. David Shoebridge
    @ShoebridgeMLC
    ·
    1h
    I’m getting increasingly troubled by the evidence from the Royal Botanic Gardens in today’s Heritage Law review. They are pushing left right and centre trying to find fresh ways to commercialise the gardens.

  6. Now, that is THE last bit of attention I will be giving Player One, sufferer of a new and unique form of Attention Deficit Disorder. That is, if Player One doesn’t get any attention they make something outrageous up to get it. 😐

  10. Whenever I hear people say there’s no difference between the parties, I usually hear: “I vote Liberal.”
    I think they’re either too embarrassed to admit outright they’re a Tory or they can’t think of a logical argument as to why.
    So much easier to just pretend there’s really no difference between the parties, so, I may as well vote Liberal.
    Heck, such a shy Tory might even dress up their rationalisations in progressive garb; complaining about inaction on climate change or the plight of refugees for example.
    I remember a journalist colleague of mine years ago who said he hoped for the Howard government’s defeat, but voted for the local Liberal candidate because he regarded the Labor candidate as “a party hack”. Whatever that means.
    When I pointed out that he was effectively voting for Howard, he just winced.
    Years later he became a media adviser for a Liberal politician.

  11. No genuine progressive puts Liberal before Labor.

    Look, if you want to put Liberal ahead of Labor, then grab your voting card and vote your little heart out. But enough with the special pleading and tortuous, self-aggrandising rationalisations. You’re not a progressive.

  12. Thanks Fulvio
    I have long recognised that telling my husband, (ex military now living with dementia), to quick march makes him straighten his posture and walk faster. I have been trying to direct him around the house and changing the language from go left to left turn, seems to work.

  14. ‘Assantdj says:
    Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 4:24 pm

    Thanks Fulvio
    I have long recognised that telling my husband, (ex military now living with dementia), to quick march makes him straighten his posture and walk faster. I have been trying to direct him around the house and changing the language from go left to left turn, seems to work.’
    _______________________
    A lovely little story, IMO. Good on you.

  15. I will put Labor above Liberals when I believe Labor has a better set of policies than the Liberals on those global issues that I believe are important. Otherwise, I will vote primarily on local issues.

    I don’t know why so many people find this so hard to understand. Nor why so many seem to find this so confronting that they spend yet another day throwing insults at me about it.

    I guess it’s easier than actually doing something about it.

  18. They have done tests somewhere and lockdown is reported to have a depressive impact on cognitive abilities. It is important in lockdown, therefore, to seek new intellectual challenges.

    So tomorrow I may restructure the sock drawer but with the socks as proxies for some external reality.
    Getting an appropriate framework is not as easy as it might seem.

  19. I’m thinking that SMH/ 9.. has sunk below The Daily Craper under stewardship of the best treasurer we ever had (accord to Howard)..

    “Accused Valentine’s Day murderer released from custody in ‘unusual’ bail decision
    Bernd Lehmann’s body was found inside his unit in Ashfield 13 years ago.
    Taxi driver Naji Fakhreddine is accused of murdering German national Bernd Lehmann in 2008 after the pair engaged in oral sex.”

    Click bait!

  20. The Comrades are having a season of glee. Not entirely surprisingly, the values of the Taliban are not a matter of concern. The Comrades have apparently already stitched up a modus vivendi with the Taliban. It involves significant financial support in return for the Taliban erecting a ring of steel against islamist incursions into China’s muslim lands. How well that holds over time is another matter entirely.

    https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231636.shtml

  21. William Bowe @ #2967 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 4:29 pm

    Player One’s lust for attention together with the determination of far too many people to give it to him is making this forum a pretty dismal spectacle right now.

    You call it lust for attention. I prefer to call it standing up for my beliefs. I have been trying to do it without being nasty, or resorting to silly name-calling, in the hope that others might do the same.

    But I have to admit this is not working so far 🙁

  22. Listening to the ABC radio while giving the dog a quick walk.

    Raf interviewing Alan Tudge. Raf pulling him up a lot and exposing this minister very quickly.

  23. From the Guardian blog …

    New Zealand will go into a national lockdown after detecting one case of the Delta variant in the community today.

    The entire country will be at alert level four – the country’s highest level of lockdown – for three days from midnight tonight, and the regions of Auckland and Coromandel for four to seven days.

    This is likely the country’s first case of Delta in-community transmission.

    Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said:

    Delta has been called a game changer, and it is. It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance.

    Gosh, I wonder who she could be talking about?

  25. More on today’s Essential Report …

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/17/half-of-australian-parents-concerned-their-children-are-developing-behavioural-issues-due-to-lockdowns

    Sixty-one per cent support setting a nationwide net zero carbon emissions target for 2030, including 54% of Coalition voters, while 53% want to end government support for coal and gas mining in Australia.

    About two-thirds (63%) said they would support the introduction of a carbon emission levy on high carbon emitting industries – such as the price signal abolished by Tony Abbott when he came to power in 2013 – including 54% of Coalition voters.

    My expectation is that Morrison will, sometime before COP26, announce a significantly more ambitious climate change policy because the polls are clearly showing they can now do so with the support of most Coalition voters.

    The question is, what will Labor do? Simply #MeToo?

  27. Player One
    In case people missed the first reference Ardern made a less subtle one 🙂
    .
    .
    “We’ve seen the dire consequences of taking too long to act in other countries, not least our neighbours,” she said.

  28. My money is on Albanese announcing a RC into the response to Covid during the election campaign next year just to remind voters of the chaos happening now.

    I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t.

  29. Scott Morrisons announcements on climate policy will and always be full of words with very little real or genuine policy behind it.
    Yet some will convince themselves that its enough to vote for the crooks again, but then always insist it is Labors fault somehow even when they have not been in power for 8 years.

  31. A structural reason might be that, since Indigenous life expectancy is significantly less than that of the population as a whole, not so many Indigenous people were not a priority 1A or 1B target.

  36. boerwar @ #2976 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 4:52 pm

    It is not clear to me who, how or why the vaccination effort in Indigenous communities has failed so miserably.

    This ought to be one of the TOR for the Royal Commission into Morrison’s and Hunt’s Deadly Vaccination Clusterfuck.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-17/low-vaccination-rates-leave-aboriginal-communities-vulnerable/100380918

    facebook groups and preachers selling them a bundle of goods, so I hear.

  39. Rex Douglas @ #2978 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 4:55 pm

    My money is on Albanese announcing a RC into the response to Covid during the election campaign next year just to remind voters of the chaos happening now.

    I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t.

    I’m waiting to see what the first order of business for a Federal ICAC will be. Announced during the election campaign as well. 🙂

  40. The hardest decision I have to make when it comes to an election, be it state or federal is who do I place dead last? Tory or green as I equally despise both.

  41. Boerwar,

    The Indigenous population was always in the high priority groups, that was the excuse given when the Sydney private school was vaccinated. The school was supposedly only enquiring about their Indigenous students and somehow everyone got included.

  42. boerwar says:
    Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 4:52 pm
    It is not clear to me who, how or why the vaccination effort in Indigenous communities has failed so miserably.

    It seems pretty obvious that Victoria is doing something right – see bar graph Rex provided. Like listening to the indigenous community and empowering Aboriginal controlled community health organisations to deliver the vaccines

  43. Laura Tingle
    @latingle
    ·
    8m
    Tonight on @abc730 I interview @PeterDutton_MP
    and counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen on Afghanistan, plus @normanswan
    on Covid and lots of other good stuff

  46. The man who tested positive for Covid-19 in the Northern Territory on Monday has refused to tell authorities whether he has been vaccinated or not, authorities say.

    NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the man had been co-operating in every way except on disclosing whether he had been inoculated.

    “He won’t divulge his vaccination status, so we have to operate as if he is unvaccinated,” Mr Gunner said at a press conference on Tuesday.

    “He may be vaccinated. But he won’t tell us.

    “I don’t know why he won’t tell us his vaccination status.”

    Mr Gunner said the man was a US citizen and that NT authorities had made the decision to “respect” his decision not to disclose his vaccination status.

    https://www.news.com.au/national/northern-territory/nt-records-no-new-covid19-cases-but-chief-minister-warns-not-out-of-the-woods/news-story/6e1b2db0bf6099d23589fafdee9c505f

  47. APA NSW
    @APANSWOFFICIAL (Paramedics Union)
    ·
    1h
    Last night at Westmead: 13 ambulances queued in bed block, COVID patients waiting for so long staff brought x-ray equipment to the parking bay.
    @NSWHealth is failing patients and Paramedics

  48. ‘ Last night at Westmead: 13 ambulances queued in bed block, COVID patients waiting for so long staff brought x-ray equipment to the parking bay. @NSWHealth is failing patients and Paramedics’-APA NSW

  49. ”
    Sir Henry Parkessays:
    Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 4:19 pm
    Whenever I hear people say there’s no difference between the parties, I usually hear: “I vote Liberal.”
    I think they’re either too embarrassed to admit outright they’re a Tory or they can’t think of a logical argument as to why.
    So much easier to just pretend there’s really no difference between the parties, so, I may as well vote Liberal.
    Heck, such a shy Tory might even dress up their rationalisations in progressive garb; complaining about inaction on climate change or the plight of refugees for example.
    I remember a journalist colleague of mine years ago who said he hoped for the Howard government’s defeat, but voted for the local Liberal candidate because he regarded the Labor candidate as “a party hack”. Whatever that means.
    When I pointed out that he was effectively voting for Howard, he just winced.
    Years later he became a media adviser for a Liberal politician.
    ”

    Thanks Sir Henry for your journalistic account. That is the reason I am up against “journalists” of MSM because they pretend who they are not except for a few exceptions. They always find a reason why it is so difficult to vote for ALP even when they knew/ know how incompetent, inefficient and corrupt the other other mob were/ are. And it is still are still doing it. They include the Chris Ulhmanns, the Peter Hartchers.

  50. Ven @ #2995 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 4:51 pm

    shellbell

    You want some discussion on cricket. Interesting views of UK Media on 2nd test between England and India.

    https://www-foxsports-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/countries/england/cricket-results-2021-england-vs-india-second-test-score-uk-view-result-highlights-latest-news/news-story/62bdee01b4a80be3d9cbc2fcb1356106?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D

    Someone told me today that James Anderson is the biggest loser in test cricket. Nobody has been in more losing test teams in the history of the game. I dont know if that is true but I am sure as heck gonna tell everyone it is.

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