Phoning it in: Politicians to vote with phones in historic changes to parliament

Politicians will cast every vote from their mobile phone from next year in historic changes to federal parliament from next year that might spell the end of a dramatic political tradition.

Politicians will soon be able to use their phones to vote.

Politicians will cast every vote from their mobile phone in historic changes to federal parliament from next year.

And the physical act of “crossing the floor” could be a thing of the past with MPs not required to leave their seats for the final tally of votes to be displayed on TV screens around the chamber.

Government, Opposition and crossbench MPs will use a highly secure phone app to vote Yes or No on all laws, divisions and motions in what is expected to save hours of time every sitting week. It is predicted to shave up to five minutes off the process of every vote.

VETERAN MP PUSHING FOR NEW ELECTRONIC VOTING

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The way politicians vote is set to be overhauled. Picture: Kym Smith

The new system — which is used in other parliaments around the world — will also allow the recording of proxy votes for nursing mothers and allow members’ votes to be entered by parliamentary officials if they are unable to use their phone.

Special GPS technology will ensure MPs will still have to attend the House of Representatives to have their vote counted.

While MPs can vote any however in the chamber, they will still be asked to assemble on either side for formalities.

“This will result in savings in time with the counting phase of votes being reduced from six minutes to as low as one minute,” Leader of the House of Representatives Christopher Pyne told the Herald Sun.

“Importantly for the public, the publishing of the vote results will be able to occur almost instantly, down from 10 minutes.”

The federal government has allocated $4.5 million over four years to the system which includes $2.2 million in capital works.

MPs will now have legitimate reason to be glued to their phone in the House of Representatives.

But the decision to use wireless technology will save hundreds of thousands by not having to retrofit wiring to the 30-year-old chamber, or purchase custom voting equipment.

The current counting phase of divisions takes about six minutes and is expected to take between 1-2 minutes using e-voting.

The publishing phase currently takes about 10 minutes and is expected to be almost immediate with the announcement of results by the Speaker, via the Clerks.

It is understood the Department of Parliamentary Services is exploring the installation of screens to display instant voting results.

The new system comes after the House of Representatives standing committee on procedures endorsed the idea in May 2016.

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