Peta Credlin: We need an electronic electoral roll to protect integrity of our elections
Australians congratulate ourselves on the efficiency and fairness of our elections compared with the US, but we’re exposed to potential multiple voting, writes Peta Credlin.
NSW
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One of the many reasons why 2020 has been a lost year is the lack of progress is dealing with anything other than the coronavirus.
Naturally enough, the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and a few other ministers, such as the very capable Health Minister Greg Hunt, were flat out responding to this challenge — but what was everyone else doing?
Over the past 12 months, have we come any closer to achieving top-ranked schools, competitive manufacturers, more dams and cheaper power?
What’s a conservative government done this year to defend freedom of speech or religion, for instance?
Still, not everyone has been so distracted by the COVID crisis that they’ve dropped the ball on everything else.
The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, one of the more consequential parliamentary committees, has just reported on the 2019 election — a review that is carried out after every federal election — with a number of key recommendations that should be put in place before the next ballot.
Just like our COVID success, something else we’ve been inclined to congratulate ourselves on has been the efficiency and fairness of our elections compared with what we’ve just seen in the US, even though our electoral roll is not really reliable, and we’re exposed to potential multiple voting here, too.
Led by Senator James McGrath, a former party campaigner, the committee wants an electronic electoral roll in time for the next election, which should mean that someone voting at one booth in one electorate is incapable of voting again anywhere else. When some marginal seats come down to fewer than 100 votes, dodgy enrolments and multiple voting could mean the difference between government and opposition.
Having a digital copy of the roll at each polling booth, so that voters at one polling station are then marked off the digital roll in every other polling booth, is just common sense.
Most Australians would wonder why this isn’t in place already.
Last week, the only real criticism against this move related to cost, but given the billions we’ve thrown at COVID, all we’re talking about here are a couple of thousand laptops for polling booth officials — seriously, this is a no-brainer.
And this isn’t the only sensible change recommended.
McGrath’s committee also wants people going on the roll to provide much stronger identification beyond just a statement by one elector that they’re qualified. And it wants voters on polling day to produce some form of ID before they get their ballot papers.
Predictably, the Labor Party is already calling this an assault on democracy. But how can asking no more of voters than we ask of people seeking to board a plane or collect something from the post office — showing some ID, that is — be unreasonable or unfair?
These recommendations have been in report after report in recent years, but after the initial interest, nothing much has been progressed.
It’s overdue for the Coalition to crack on and ensure our ballots are not only fair but seen to be fair. And in any event, I would be putting legislation in the parliament to flush out Labor because arguing against ID and voting integrity is defending the indefensible.
Harder, but no less interesting, are some of the other proposed reforms.
Four-year terms make sense because they would give the government of the day more time to get on with governing rather than having to campaign.
Breaking the nexus that currently requires the Senate to be half the size of the House of Representatives makes sense too, because you could have smaller and more manageable federal electorates (so more responsive to constituents) without being stuck with even more senators. But both of these would require constitutional change.
Another key recommendation is optional preferential voting, meaning you could just vote 1 in the House as well as in the Senate.
Even though it was Neville Wran who introduced optional preferential voting in NSW, to make it harder for the Coalition to run three-cornered contests, Labor would hate this federally because it would mean it couldn’t rely on Green preferences to get over the line in its marginal seats.
Still, why should people be forced to allocate preferences if they want to cast a valid vote?
With Labor likely to be difficult, it would be tempting for the Morrison government to use claims of expense and logistical difficulty to shelve this report like so many others.
But with not much in the way of an agenda — other than staying in office and beating the pandemic — the PM should grab this chance to put beyond doubt the integrity of our elections and to achieve a meaningful reform.
* Watch Peta on Credlin on Sky News, weeknights at 6pm
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Originally published as Peta Credlin: We need an electronic electoral roll to protect integrity of our elections
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