Wednesday, 28 August 2024

Electoral Matters Committee

Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2022 Victorian State Election

Josh BULL (Sunbury) (10:18): I rise to make a contribution to discuss the report of the inquiry into the conduct of the 2022 Victorian state election by the Electoral Matters Committee. When it comes to democracy, things that all members of this place should agree on, and indeed the vast majority of the Victorian community, are the notion of free and fair elections, the notion of respect and making sure that those values that we all hold stay true even in what is a very hotly contested election, as was the 2022 and of course other elections.

I want to thank the committee for the work that has been done and the importance of reviewing and reflecting on our electoral processes with the idea of continual improvement. The report is quite extensive and contains a number of recommendations related to how the election was run, voter participation, timelines, the Victorian Electoral Commission staff and a broad summary of the work that has been done. There were four major areas where the committee recommended changes, and the areas that I want to focus on are:

adjusting the election timeline, including reducing the early voting period from twelve to seven days, closing the electoral roll earlier and bringing forward the close of nominations –

and –

improving the VEC’s training procedures and products to ensure that election officials are familiar with the rules and provide a good experience for voters

I am certain that many members of this house – all members of this house – have had interesting experiences whilst participating in what is the fine example of pre-poll voting. Certainly at the past three state elections I have had the opportunity locally to be at an early voting centre. Disappointingly, I have seen an erosion of behaviour and practices, abuse. I was having a conversation just this morning with the outstanding member for Mordialloc. We were reflecting that what occurs at many of these early voting centres is frankly disgraceful. The work of the committee highlighted this. More than highlighting this, it recommended some changes that I wholeheartedly endorse. The reason for that is we know that early voting was originally established for people that could not vote on election day. What we have seen is a whole range of different muppets and characters and others that front up to early voting frankly just to cause trouble. These people need to be called out. These people are disgraceful, they are shameful, they are muppets of the highest order. Those who want to participate in democracy – and I think this should be right across all sides of this place and the other place – value and uphold our democracy, and it has a sacred and important place for respect, values and decency for everyone. I know as a candidate and as a member that I have always made sure that we have a conversation pretty early on, particularly with the Libs, to say, ‘We’re going to follow the rules and we’re going to conduct ourselves with decency and respect.’ When the muppets turn up, that goes out the window.

We as a Parliament and we as a government need to make sure that we do more. The recommendations that have been provided by the committee, particularly around reducing those pre-poll days, those early voting days, are something that, as I said before, I wholeheartedly endorse. This is something that we need to move on, because it is about safety, it is about certainty, it is about protecting our democracy. It is also about making sure that if you turn up to vote for the very first time, the experience is a good one and not a terrible one. That is a very important thing. I thank the committee for their work.