This was published 8 years ago
LNP: Consult on compulsory preferential voting before Governor's sign-off
By Cameron Atfield
Queensland's state opposition has called on the Palaszczuk government to cut legislation, which would reintroduce compulsory preferential voting, off at the pass before it went to Governor Paul de Jersey to sign into law.
Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said, despite the legislation having passed through Parliament, it was not too late to have the matter considered by a Parliamentary committee and voters publicly consulted before it became law.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath have come under fire over electoral voting changes that were adopted without consultation. Credit: Harrison Saragossi
"This bill has not been proclaimed yet," he said.
"The government can advise the Governor not to proclaim the bits to do with the change to the voting system.
Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg is furious over the reintroduction of compulsory preferential voting.Credit: Glenn Hunt
"That's easy to do, because it has not been proclaimed and it has not been implemented.
"There is time for this government to say 'OK, we'll now go and consult the people of Queensland'."
Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath told Fairfax Media on April 13, through a spokesman, that compulsory preferential voting was "not something that's under active consideration at the moment".
That changed in dramatic fashion just eight days later, on Thursday night, when the Palaszczuk government introduced an amendment to the Liberal National Party opposition's bill to increase the size of the Parliament.
The amendment would make preferential voting compulsory in time for the Toowoomba South byelection.
Mr Springborg said the opposition's legislation to increase the number of seats in Parliament from 89 to 93 "smoked (the government) out" and exposed Labor's long-term plan, despite the comments from the Attorney-General's office on April 13.
"The one advantage of that is we now know probably six to 12 months ahead of when we would have known that Labor was planning to do this," he said.
"And they were planning to do it because they need to try to rig the result of the next election, because they know their primary vote is stuck and they need to force people to vote for them by exercising all of the preferences.
"…Yvette D'Ath should answer the question as to what has changed in the last week."
Ms D'Ath remained coy on Saturday as to how long the government had been planning to reintroduce compulsory preferential voting, which had not been in place in Queensland since before the 1992 state election.
"This is an issue political parties turn their minds to from time to time," she said.
Optional preferential voting was introduced by the Goss Labor government in time for the 1992 state election, following a recommendation from Electoral and Administrative Review Commission – a body set up out of the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
The commissioner of that inquiry, Tony Fitzgerald, QC, appeared resigned to the sort of politicking seen in Queensland Parliament in the past week.
"They're all just self-interested politicians and I've sought refuge from them in a zone of total indifference," he told Fairfax Media on Saturday.
But Ms D'Ath said the reason for the change was that voters were confused by the different electoral systems at state and federal levels.
"We had an opportunity, with an urgency bill on electoral matters brought into the Parliament, to seize that opportunity and address this inconsistency that I believe is better for the people of Queensland because it means that every vote counts," she said.
"That is a good thing for our democracy and our electoral system."
Ms D'Ath said the government had to respond to the LNP's urgency bill to increase the number of electorates.
"The LNP walked into Parliament on Tuesday morning, dropped a private members' bill on electoral matters into the Parliament, immediately moved an urgency motion and gave us no more than two days to consider a response to that," she said.
"So, the Palaszczuk government showed real leadership and we responded by introducing compulsory preferential voting."
When asked whether Queenslanders were owed an apology for the lack of consultation and transparency, Ms D'Ath said: "I think the LNP should give them an apology, absolutely."
"Any travesty of process is a consequence of the LNP," she said.
Mr Springborg was incredulous at that suggestion.
"That's an extraordinary argument because our bill that went through the Parliament was consulted widely last year right around the state," he said.
"…The person who should apologise here is Yvette D'Ath, who stood up in the Parliament over and over and cloaked herself in a veil of innocence and accountability.
"That fell away last week."
Optional preferential voting was long seen as an electoral disaster for the conservative side of politics in three-cornered contests involving the National and Liberal parties.
Mr Springborg acknowledged his own previous opposition to optional preferential voting.
"I've had views previously – and that's a matter of public record – in favour of compulsory preferential voting," he said.
"But regardless of personal views, you have to respect Queenslanders and over the last 15-odd years as I've talked to Queenslanders, my views have very much changed towards absolutely favouring optional preferential voting because Queenslanders like it.
"In a voting system, you have to respect what Queenslanders are saying."
Under optional preferential voting, voters decide either to just vote one or number as many subsequent preferences as they wish.
Compulsory preferential voting, used in federal ballots to elect the House of Representatives, forces every voter to number each candidate in their order of preference.