Parties urge shorter pre-polling time to take pressure off staffing

Liberal Party federal director calls for shorter pre-polling periods and fewer early voting centres, condeming ‘illegal behaviour’.

Federal Director of the Liberal Party of Australia Andrew Hirst. Picture: AAP

Liberal Party federal director Andre­w Hirst has called for shorter pre-polling periods and fewer early voting centres, and condemned “appalling and illegal behaviour” in the lead-up to the May 18 election.

In a submission to the joint standing committee on electoral matters inquiry into the election, Mr Hirst said a surge in early voters­ put pressure on political parties and meant millions of voters­ headed to the polls before major policies were released.

Australian Labor Party national secretary Paul Erickson expressed similar concerns in his submission, saying early voting had “significant practical implications for political parties and campaign managers”.

Mr Hirst, who engineered the Coalition victory, said the expansion of pre-polling voting centres and divisional offices from about 690 in 2016 to 887 this year put “significant pressure on political parties’ ability to provide booth workers” across a three-week early voting period.

“The pressure on campaign volunteers is enhanced by the fact early voting takes place during business hours, when many people who might otherwise volunteer are at work,” Mr Hirst said.

“These challenges were exacerbated by a number of problems with the management of pre-poll voting centres by the AEC.”

Mr Hirst said state divisions of the Liberal Party were provided with “very late notice” in relation to locations of pre-poll and election voting centres, which caused “major inconvenience for thousands of volunteer booth workers, particularly in regional areas”.

“Limiting voting at pre-poll voting centres to a two-week period­ and returning the number of pre-poll voting centres to 2013 levels would strike a better balance,” he said.

Mr Hirst also launched an attack­ on campaign tactics, including damage to property and abuse directed at MPs, candidates, campaign staff and volunteers.

“The most extreme examples included anti-Semitic vandalism directed towards the member for Berowra and the federal Treasurer, damage to Liberal Party vehicle­s, obscene personal abuse directed towards former prime minister Tony Abbott and a campaign volunteer being stabbed with a corkscrew.”

Mr Hirst criticised left-wing act­ivist group GetUp over its mocking of Mr Abbott’s service as a volunteer surf lifesaver and its “unblemished record of only ever campaigning against Liberal and Nationals MPs and candidates”.

He also called for changes to the process requiring candidates to complete qualification checklists on their constitutional eligib­ility, including identifying their date and country of birth.

“It would be useful to be provided with a timetable, in advance, identifying the day on which the Australian Electoral Commission would make the checklists public.”

Mr Erickson, who replaced Noah Carroll as ALP national secretary in August, urged the committee members to consider the adequacy of section 329 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act and the AEC’s response to complaints about Liberal Party signage.

“The ALP notes that the Court of Disputed Returns is currently hearing several legal challenges arising from the federal election, two of which allege that the Liberal Party engaged in illegal conduct in breach of section 329,” he said.

“The allegations relate to the use of Chinese-language signs in the divisions of Chisholm and Kooyong. The signs, which appear to have been designed to look like official voting instructions from the AEC, instructed voters to ‘put 1 next to the Liberal Party candid­ate’. Despite several complaints being made on polling day, the AEC declined to take action.”