2 years ago
SCOTT MORRISON UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY AS ENROLMENT BOOMS
SENATOR DON FARRELL
A record number of Australians are now enrolled to vote at the next federal election, with enrolment this week surpassing 17 million or around 96 per cent.
This record enrolment rate – expanding voting rights to more Australians than ever before – is the result of the hard work of the Australian Electoral Commission and reforms under previous Labor Governments, including automatic direct enrolment.
Labor will always support measures that ensure all eligible Australians can exercise their democratic right to vote.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Morrison-Joyce government.
While the AEC is working to ensure every Australian can easily exercise their right to vote at the upcoming election, Scott Morrison is furiously trying to make it harder.
His proposed voter ID laws would force 17 million people to prove their identity before casting their vote and are a deliberate attempt to undermine confidence in Australia’s robust electoral processes.
Australia’s electoral system is the envy of the democratic world.
The independent AEC says incidents of people voting more than once are “vanishingly small”, many are simply administrative errors, and most of the rest are people aged over 80 who vote again on election day after forgetting they’ve submitted a postal vote.
Importantly, the AEC already picks up these rare incidents and investigates them.
Australia’s electoral system works. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Instead of making it harder for Australians to vote, Scott Morrison should focus on areas where there is still room for improvement.
Indigenous enrolment rates are as low as 69 per cent in the Northern Territory and the government still isn’t doing anywhere near enough to close that unacceptable gap.
Our nation’s youth enrolment rate also has plenty of room for improvement, with only 83 per cent of Australians aged 18-24 enrolled to vote.
This record enrolment rate – expanding voting rights to more Australians than ever before – is the result of the hard work of the Australian Electoral Commission and reforms under previous Labor Governments, including automatic direct enrolment.
Labor will always support measures that ensure all eligible Australians can exercise their democratic right to vote.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Morrison-Joyce government.
While the AEC is working to ensure every Australian can easily exercise their right to vote at the upcoming election, Scott Morrison is furiously trying to make it harder.
His proposed voter ID laws would force 17 million people to prove their identity before casting their vote and are a deliberate attempt to undermine confidence in Australia’s robust electoral processes.
Australia’s electoral system is the envy of the democratic world.
The independent AEC says incidents of people voting more than once are “vanishingly small”, many are simply administrative errors, and most of the rest are people aged over 80 who vote again on election day after forgetting they’ve submitted a postal vote.
Importantly, the AEC already picks up these rare incidents and investigates them.
Australia’s electoral system works. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Instead of making it harder for Australians to vote, Scott Morrison should focus on areas where there is still room for improvement.
Indigenous enrolment rates are as low as 69 per cent in the Northern Territory and the government still isn’t doing anywhere near enough to close that unacceptable gap.
Our nation’s youth enrolment rate also has plenty of room for improvement, with only 83 per cent of Australians aged 18-24 enrolled to vote.