Court ruling a boost for Aussie Labor in election campain...
August 7th 2010 23:46
Court ruling a boost for Aussie Labor in election campaign...
Court Ruling a Boost for Labor?
In a potential boost for Labor’s re-election prospects, up to 100,000 more voters who missed the deadline for enrolment may now be eligible to vote in the August 21 poll following a successful High Court challenge to electoral laws.
The court ruled on Friday that parts of the Electoral Act were unconstitutional. It didn’t publish the reasons for its decision, saying it had been decided by a majority of the full bench.
Leftish advocacy group GetUp! had supported a constitutional challenge made by two students, Shannen Rowe and Douglas Thompson, who argued that changes made to the electoral laws by the Howard Government in 2006 failed to allow for a representative government as specified in the constitution.
Under the 2006 changes, the electoral rolls close to new enrolments at 8 p.m. on the same day election writs are issued, giving voters not already on the rolls little time to register. Voters already on the rolls only have three days to register any changes.
Their challenge was also backed by the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, with executive director Phillip Lynch earlier quoted by the Australian Financial Review saying: ‘What is fundamental to a representative democracy is that all persons who are eligible to vote be able to practically exercise that right to vote, and the state has a role to facilitate that, not put in place obstacles to the exercise of that right.’
The defendants to the action were the Australian Electoral Commissioner and the Commonwealth of Australia, although Labor would have been hoping for a ruling in the students’ favour. Earlier this year the Government sought to restore the previous seven-day deadline for enrolment after writs are issued, but its legislation was blocked in the Opposition-controlled Senate.
Rowe and Thompson had both missed the deadline to enroll. Rowe argued her work commitments had prevented her from doing so, while Thompson had attempted to register a change of address form before the election was called through a GetUp! website, but it was not accepted by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) as it was signed electronically.
A separate legal action to be heard by the Federal Court on August 12 will consider whether such electronic signatures should be accepted by the AEC, in another important ruling for Australia’s democracy.
According to AEC data, more than 100,000 people missed the deadline for enrolling to vote or changing their enrolment details in the 2007 election. In the 2004 poll, which allowed seven days for amendments to the rolls, there were 425,000 changes made during that period.
The Australian Financial Review’s James Eyers noted that Australia’s electoral laws are out of alignment with those of other democracies. In the United Kingdom, rolls close 11 days before an election; in New Zealand, the day before; and they do not close at all in Canada.
Currently about 1.4 million Australians, or around 6 percent of the population, aren’t enrolled to vote, with 70 percent of these aged between 18 and 39.
GetUp!'s national director Simon Sheikh called the court decision ‘historic,’ saying it could make a difference in some tight marginal seats.
In comments reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Sheikh said never before in Australia’s history had a case of this magnitude been won in a two-week period.
The group was supported by a team of 20 lawyers working on a pro-bono basis, who will now have their costs covered by Government.
While Sheikh said GetUp! Wouldn’t push for the AEC to reopen the electoral rolls, he said the case could make a major difference to many disenfranchised voters.
‘Clearly 100,000 Australians who can now exercise their right to vote is an extraordinarily large number,’ Sheikh said. ‘With marginal seats across the country and an extremely tight election, [this] could have a massive impact on the election.’
Opposition spokesman Michael Ronaldson reportedly defended the 2006 changes as ‘moves to strengthen the integrity of the electoral rolls.’
‘While we welcome the additional 100,000 voters who will be participating in this election, we remain concerned this decision leaves the door open to abuse by electoral rorters,’ he said in a statement. ‘Electoral rorters will now be able to use the busy period, after the issue of writs, to make false enrolments and false transfers of enrolments.’
However, Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig praised the High Court’s ruling, saying it restored democratic rights.
The decision is seen favouring Labor and the Greens, given the left-wing tendencies of young voters, according to ABC election analyst Antony Green.
‘Given all the publicity, I would imagine there would be a huge increase in the number of 18-year-olds on the roll and that would probably assist Labor and Greens,’ he told the ABC.
The AEC now faces an administrative headache processing enrolment claims that were correctly completed and submitted after 8 p.m. on July 19 but before 8 p.m. on July 26.
It said it would contact the voters concerned and tell them they were entitled to vote and how to access further assistance, according to the ABC.
Could these new voters turn the tide for Labor? In a tight race the ruling party needs all the help it can get, and it will be quietly thanking GetUp! – a group which has attacked both Labor and the Coalition – for its activism in this case.
Really Long Link
Court Ruling a Boost for Labor?
In a potential boost for Labor’s re-election prospects, up to 100,000 more voters who missed the deadline for enrolment may now be eligible to vote in the August 21 poll following a successful High Court challenge to electoral laws.
The court ruled on Friday that parts of the Electoral Act were unconstitutional. It didn’t publish the reasons for its decision, saying it had been decided by a majority of the full bench.
Leftish advocacy group GetUp! had supported a constitutional challenge made by two students, Shannen Rowe and Douglas Thompson, who argued that changes made to the electoral laws by the Howard Government in 2006 failed to allow for a representative government as specified in the constitution.
Under the 2006 changes, the electoral rolls close to new enrolments at 8 p.m. on the same day election writs are issued, giving voters not already on the rolls little time to register. Voters already on the rolls only have three days to register any changes.
Their challenge was also backed by the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, with executive director Phillip Lynch earlier quoted by the Australian Financial Review saying: ‘What is fundamental to a representative democracy is that all persons who are eligible to vote be able to practically exercise that right to vote, and the state has a role to facilitate that, not put in place obstacles to the exercise of that right.’
The defendants to the action were the Australian Electoral Commissioner and the Commonwealth of Australia, although Labor would have been hoping for a ruling in the students’ favour. Earlier this year the Government sought to restore the previous seven-day deadline for enrolment after writs are issued, but its legislation was blocked in the Opposition-controlled Senate.
Rowe and Thompson had both missed the deadline to enroll. Rowe argued her work commitments had prevented her from doing so, while Thompson had attempted to register a change of address form before the election was called through a GetUp! website, but it was not accepted by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) as it was signed electronically.
A separate legal action to be heard by the Federal Court on August 12 will consider whether such electronic signatures should be accepted by the AEC, in another important ruling for Australia’s democracy.
According to AEC data, more than 100,000 people missed the deadline for enrolling to vote or changing their enrolment details in the 2007 election. In the 2004 poll, which allowed seven days for amendments to the rolls, there were 425,000 changes made during that period.
The Australian Financial Review’s James Eyers noted that Australia’s electoral laws are out of alignment with those of other democracies. In the United Kingdom, rolls close 11 days before an election; in New Zealand, the day before; and they do not close at all in Canada.
Currently about 1.4 million Australians, or around 6 percent of the population, aren’t enrolled to vote, with 70 percent of these aged between 18 and 39.
GetUp!'s national director Simon Sheikh called the court decision ‘historic,’ saying it could make a difference in some tight marginal seats.
In comments reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Sheikh said never before in Australia’s history had a case of this magnitude been won in a two-week period.
The group was supported by a team of 20 lawyers working on a pro-bono basis, who will now have their costs covered by Government.
While Sheikh said GetUp! Wouldn’t push for the AEC to reopen the electoral rolls, he said the case could make a major difference to many disenfranchised voters.
‘Clearly 100,000 Australians who can now exercise their right to vote is an extraordinarily large number,’ Sheikh said. ‘With marginal seats across the country and an extremely tight election, [this] could have a massive impact on the election.’
Opposition spokesman Michael Ronaldson reportedly defended the 2006 changes as ‘moves to strengthen the integrity of the electoral rolls.’
‘While we welcome the additional 100,000 voters who will be participating in this election, we remain concerned this decision leaves the door open to abuse by electoral rorters,’ he said in a statement. ‘Electoral rorters will now be able to use the busy period, after the issue of writs, to make false enrolments and false transfers of enrolments.’
However, Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig praised the High Court’s ruling, saying it restored democratic rights.
The decision is seen favouring Labor and the Greens, given the left-wing tendencies of young voters, according to ABC election analyst Antony Green.
‘Given all the publicity, I would imagine there would be a huge increase in the number of 18-year-olds on the roll and that would probably assist Labor and Greens,’ he told the ABC.
The AEC now faces an administrative headache processing enrolment claims that were correctly completed and submitted after 8 p.m. on July 19 but before 8 p.m. on July 26.
It said it would contact the voters concerned and tell them they were entitled to vote and how to access further assistance, according to the ABC.
Could these new voters turn the tide for Labor? In a tight race the ruling party needs all the help it can get, and it will be quietly thanking GetUp! – a group which has attacked both Labor and the Coalition – for its activism in this case.
Really Long Link
| 54 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
