Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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ELECTORAL AND REFERENDUM REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1992 NO. 422

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Statutory Rules 1992 No. 422

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Administrative Services

Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918

Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984

Electoral and Referendum Regulations (Amendment)

Section 395 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Act) and section 144 of' the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 provide that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of these Acts.

The Electoral and Referendum Regulations make provision for Commonwealth electoral and referendum administration.

The Electoral and Referendum Amendment Act 1991 has amended the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 and the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984, to provide inter alia for an infringement notice system for failure to vote. The introduction of an infringement notice system has made redundant several provisions dealing with enforcement of the law relating to compulsory voting currently dealt with in the Electoral and Referendum Regulations. In addition, some consequential amendments to the regulations are required to take account of changes to the parent Acts. The amending regulations:

•       omit subregulation 5(2), regulations 76-80, subregulation 81(3) and (4), regulation 82 and the Forms in Schedule 1; and

•       amend subregulations 81(1) and 81(3) to alter references to paragraphs in the parent Acts that have been amended by the Electoral and Referendum Amendment Act 1991; and

•       amend subregulation 81(3) to alter references to Forms in Schedule 1 to references to approved forms.

The only regulations relating to enforcement of compulsory voting that will remain in force after the amending regulations are made will be regulations 81 and 83. Regulation 81 requires a Court of summary jurisdiction to take account of an elector's reply to a non-voters notice (if any), as if it were given in evidence before the Court. Regulation 83 provides that a prosecuting officer may lodge with the Court a statutory declaration and certified extract of the list of names of electors who did not vote in the approved form, in which case it shall not be necessary for the prosecuting officer to attend the hearing. Regulation 83 further provides that where a statutory declaration and certified extract has been lodged, and the prosecuting officer is not present, the Court shall proceed with the hearing and shall consider the statutory declaration and certified extract as if the matter therein were set out in evidence before it.

In addition, the amending regulations alter the form of the House of Representatives ballot paper in two respects. First, the amending regulations omit a reference to the possibility of including a composite name of registered political parties next to a candidate's name. This option is redundant, as the Act does not allow for the printing of more than one party affiliation next to the name of a House of Representatives candidate.

Second, the amending regulations provide that the reminder notice which appears at the foot of the House of Representatives ballot paper is not to be printed in the case of "open" ballot papers. This is intended to solve an existing problem that may lead to voters unintentionally casting votes that are not fully effective. The "open" ballot paper provided for by subsection 209(7) of the Act allows an issuing officer to write candidate details on a blank ballot paper, which in practice is pre-printed with ten boxes. "Open" ballot papers are used when fully printed ballot papers are not available. As "open" ballot papers are pre-printed with 10 boxes, in cases where there are less than ten candidates standing for election, the instruction "Remember ... number every box to make your vote count" has caused confusion, since in such cases only as many boxes as there are candidates should be numbered.

The amending regulations also replace the reference in Schedule 2 to the Corporate Affairs Commission with a reference to the Australian Securities Commission. Agencies listed in Schedule 2 are entitled to receive non-public personal electoral roll information in accordance with subsections 91(10) and (11) of the Act. The Corporate Affairs Commission no longer exists. Some functions that were undertaken by the Corporate Affairs Commission that required access to confidential personal enrolment information are now being undertaken by the Australian Securities Commission. The Australian Securities Commission has notified the Australian Electoral Commission that information supplied will be used in accordance with the Information Privacy Principles of the Privacy Act 1988.

The regulations commence on gazettal.


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