Page 656 - Week 02 - Thursday, 19 February 2015
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Amendment negatived.
Clause 32 agreed to.
Clause 33 agreed to.
Clause 34.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (5.45): I oppose this clause.
Clause 34 agreed to.
Clauses 35 to 57, by leave, taken together.
Proposed new clauses 57A and 57B.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (5.46): I move amendment No 17 circulated in my name, which inserts new clauses 57A and 57B [see schedule 1 at page 667].
This relates to the issue of canvassing within 100 metres of a polling place. This was a matter that, without disclosing committee deliberations, I think I can say received some considerable discussion in the Assembly committee. I think there is a view that this has been a logistically problematic clause for some time. The way ACT polling places work, there are certainly some where the 100-metre rule creates an almost half pregnant situation, which is clearly not a good place to be.
The view I am putting forward is that the 250-metre rule would simply define that a bit more clearly. It would mean that the Electoral Commission could not be faced with some of the borderline issues that have arisen where activists or party helpers have perhaps sought to position themselves right by a school boundary, in the driveway, approaching moving cars as they come into a car park—these sorts of matters.
It is a very practically oriented thing. A range of options was considered by the committee. This was the recommendation that was ultimately got to after quite a bit of discussion. I think it is a practical one that I commend to my colleagues.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Health, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (5.47): The government will not support this amendment today. However, I note that this is a live issue. The government has effectively not yet reached a settled position on what the most effective arrangement is in relation to a ban on canvassing and how far it should extend from a polling place or, indeed, whether there should be a ban on canvassing full stop on polling day.
I think the matter can be revisited before the next election. It is not time critical in the same way that perhaps some of the other changes to the Electoral Act are in that it only applies on polling day itself. There is still sufficient time, I believe, to work through the options.
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