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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 6 Hansard (13 June) . . Page.. 1679 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

I am disinclined to think that we should adopt the position of saying that the federal government might manage to ram it through the Senate at some stage. It will not happen in the present parliament. Perhaps it will happen in the next parliament; who knows? I doubt that very much as well. I cannot see the sense, in those circumstances, of accepting the containment within this bill of a provision which says that we will just cop whatever the Commonwealth does in relation to the Electoral Act. That is not a signal we should be sending. The issue has aroused significant comment over the last couple of days.

I have circulated a number of amendments which the Labor Party will be moving, additional amendments that take us into line with certain Commonwealth provisions in relation to the qualification limits for public funding. We are proposing that the qualification limit be increased from 2 per cent to 4 per cent, in line with the Commonwealth position in relation to public funding, and that the number of electors required for the nomination of non-party candidates be increased from two to 50. We think it only reasonable that any candidates who seeks to represent the community show at the outset that they actually have some level of support within the community that they are seeking to represent. It seems to us that 50, which is the Commonwealth limit as a show of support at the nomination stage, would be appropriate.

Sometimes we forget that the electorate of Molonglo, with 90,000 registered electors, is bigger than 90 per cent of the federal electorates throughout Australia. Molonglo is an exceedingly large electorate and we need to look at some of these issues and some of these amendments on the basis of the size of Molonglo. What we have in the ACT in relation to this issue of an increase in the number of electors required for the nomination of a non-party candidate from two to 50 is the lowest possible requirement, compared with a federal electorate or the Senate and most of the states and in circumstances where their electorates are much smaller than Molonglo. We have a requirement that equates to 2 per cent of the Commonwealth requirement in circumstances where Molonglo, at least, is far larger than almost any electorate in Australia that you would care to name, yet we do not impose the same rigor in the ACT as is imposed elsewhere. I think there are very good reasons for an electorate to insist that anybody who seeks to represent the community at an election have some standing within the community, that they not be simply out on a bit of a jaunt, having a bit of fun, caressing their egos, perhaps acting almost in the way a streaker acts at a one day cricket game, seeking a little bit of attention with absolutely no regard for the consequences and no commitment to the greater game.

Similarly, I will be moving an amendment in relation to the inclusion of postal vote application forms in issued electoral material. Again, this provision is taken from the Commonwealth Electoral Act. I think it is a serious and wise amendment. It does allow any member of the Assembly to participate in the process. Those of us who are active within our electorates know a whole range and raft of people who are not mobile and who do need, look for and seek assistance in relation to the lodging of postal votes. It seems to me that it is a sensible, reasonable and sympathetic approach to the issue of people seeking postal votes to allow parties to actively pursue the assisting of some of our constituents, residents and neighbours, people we know who are not mobile and who will have trouble getting to a polling booth on the day.

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