Recommendation 1

3.58

The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 be amended to grant the authority to the Electoral Commissioner, in the event of an emergency being declared by Commonwealth, state or territory law, and to facilitate the safe conduct of an electoral event, to:

extend the reasons electors can vote by post or pre-poll;

streamline application and/or declaration requirements for postal and pre-poll voting;

extend operating or polling hours (pre-poll only);

conduct scrutiny safely.

3.59

This authority must:

be limited to circumstances in which all alternative avenues to conduct an electoral event without exercising emergency provisions have been deliberated and exhausted;

be limited to the extent necessary to conduct an electoral event;

be limited to the geographical area in which the emergency situation has been declared, noting that this may only be part of an electorate;

be exercised by the Electoral Commissioner and cannot be delegated;

be time limited only to the time necessary to respond to the emergency situation and conduct the electoral event.

3.60

To maintain transparency the Electoral Commissioner must, as soon as practicable:

publish the decision to modify the electoral event and the modifications to be made; and

inform the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters of actions taken.

Recommendation 2

3.65

The Committee recommends that the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 be amended to provide conditions to change the date of polling where an emergency situation prevents voting occurring on the date fixed for polling.

Recommendation 3

3.67

The Committee recommends that sections 240A to 243 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 be reviewed to ensure that they are in line with the recommendations set out in this report.

List of Recommendations

Recommendation 1

Recommendation 2

Recommendation 3

About this inquiry

Past Public Hearings