Page 1093 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 April 1994
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It is to be provided for later in the Bill, through an amendment which will be supported by, I assume, all in the chamber, or at least both sides of the chamber, that there should be the capacity to cast a formal vote even when these provisions have not been complied with. So if a person writes the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, that person's vote will count, to the point, at least, of their fourth preference. That, in a sense, puts the practice in complete contrast to the formal position of what a voter should do when he or she goes to the ballot-box.
My party has wrestled with the problem of this. We do not propose an amendment at this stage, but we make the point to the Government that we need to consider the efficacy of a law which is effectively unenforceable. What is the point in saying to a person, "You must do this to cast a formal vote, and, in a sense, it is illegal for you to do otherwise" - we are saying here that an elector shall record his or her vote in this way - "but if you do not it does not matter."?
Mr Moore: It is not a piece of legislation. It is only a drafter's term, a legal term, to ordinary people.
MR HUMPHRIES: I think, with respect, it is. I realise that there is no penalty provision here. A person could not be charged with the offence of breaching section 128; nonetheless, it is an act which is unlawful - at least, I think it is. It is unlawful to cast your vote other than as indicated in those provisions. To support my contention, I refer members to proposed new section 291, which says:
A person shall not disseminate, or authorise to be disseminated, electoral matter including a representation of a ballot paper ... likely to induce an elector to mark his or her vote otherwise than in accordance with the directions on the ballot paper.
That means that, if I put out a how-to-vote card saying, "There are really only three people in this election campaign worth voting for. Vote 1, 2, 3 for those people, and then vote for two other candidates; or do not vote any further than that.", I have committed an offence under section 291, which, in turn, harks back to section 128. It is illegal under section 291 only because of section 128. So, section 128 does have some effect on the conduct of a campaign.
I am not sure, Madam Speaker, whether, at the end of the day, it is desirable to advise people to deliberately exhaust their votes. It is obviously better to be able to have people exercise as many of their votes as possible. I am quite happy to have a recommendation that people number every square because it gives them the chance to exercise a maximum possible vote and to make sure that their influence continues throughout the course of the campaign; but there will be some who, on a matter of principle, will not wish to have a vote beyond, say, three squares. They might decide that only one candidate is worth voting for. Given the formality rules we are now going to provide for, perhaps that person ought to have the capacity to exercise that capacity within the law, not outside the law.
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