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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 7 Hansard (17 October) . . Page.. 1710 ..

MR CONNOLLY (continuing):

That was a good gimmick. Mr Stevenson had a good gimmick in the second ACT election. Those candidates chose to be near the place where people vote and to canvass for votes. That is a fundamental democratic right which has been part of elections in this country, if not since the introduction of the secret so-called Australian ballot in the nineteenth century then certainly since citizens have been required to front up for State, Federal and in some cases local government elections. It has been accepted as a given. There have not been complaints about it.

As other Labor members have, I have searched in vain the extensive material published by the proponents of Hare-Clark. Labor opposed Hare-Clark. We favoured a system of single-member electorates but accept the outcome of the electorate and hence produced the legislation in the last Assembly which entrenched it. My recollection was that the Liberals at that time tried to knock off how-to-vote cards but failed. The proponents of Hare-Clark took some nine pages to present their case, although the proponents of single-member electorates took only five. In the extensive canvassing of the merits of Hare-Clark, there was nothing that said, "We will ban how-to-vote cards". A lot has been said about giving citizens the right to take a different view from that of the party machine that preselects candidates. Citizens can choose to cast their vote that way. But nowhere was it said, "We will seek to ban political parties from issuing not just how-to-vote material but general supporting material".

Mr Moore chose to put big signs around polling places. I think the "Mike and Tina for Turner" one would have won the prize for witty election material. I did not have my tape measure with me, but I estimate that that would have been within 100 metres of the polling booth and, under this legislation, would be banned. The smaller parties have made fairly good-natured and witty attempts over the years. I am not sure whether Mr Stevenson's "Don't Vote Informal. Vote Abolish" could be described as either good-natured or witty. Nonetheless, it was something different distributed around the polling places by an Independent non-aligned candidate who presumably thought it would benefit his chances of success.

The Liberal Party is saying, "We will pass a law to outlaw the basic democratic process of canvassing or publicising within 100 metres of a polling place". The Liberals have said that how-to-vote cards are bad politics; that they disadvantage parties; that parties should not use them. If that is the case, then you are pretty smart because you are not doing it and the Labor Party is pretty dumb because we are doing it, and why do you not let us continue? No-one is going to accept these arguments. You clearly want to disadvantage Labor supporters. You clearly want to disadvantage people of non-English-speaking backgrounds. You clearly want to disadvantage those citizens who want to simply avail themselves of the traditional ability that they have in elections - Federal, State and local - in all parts of Australia bar Tasmania. When you and your proponents published the extensive documentation you never thought to point out that you wished to ban how-to-vote material. You never thought to point out that you wished to ban canvassing material.

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