Wednesday, 28 August 2024

Electoral Matters Committee

Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2022 Victorian State Election

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (10:38): I rise on committee reports to talk about the inquiry into the conduct of the 2022 Victorian state election. Forgive me if this sounds a little bit like the intellectual pathway that we took with the member for Sunbury, who eloquently talked about some of the issues in the report, but I think it is important to put on the record some of the challenges that were experienced and some of the issues that were faced during that election.

First of all, I want to give a massive shout-out to the staff at the Victorian Electoral Commission, who do an incredible job in turning around an election process and the democratic will of Victorians. If all the criticism of the VEC is sometimes the timeliness, then we are in a really great frame in the state of Victoria with it and the work that is done by the AEC. They are an incredible group that has a huge amount of integrity and the trust of Victorians. Despite some of the concerning elements that were trying to talk down the election at the time and some of the predictable types on social media and other elements, no-one could question their integrity and the high order of trust that they have with Victorians.

There are some concerning trends and behaviours over time through elections. We now have about one in eight who are not participating in election outcomes. This is a trend that we are seeing across other states and territories and across the world, where we see people pulling out of democratic systems. I think it is a really important point around how the VEC and the AEC are seen in our communities and how they are supported to communicate with the new generation of voters coming onto the roll. We do some great work through the education system in understanding democracy and civics, but we need to make sure that people feel connected to that and that it is a part of their lives into the future as well. That 88 per cent turnout rate of the more than 4.3 million Victorian voters is of concern.

I want to give a big shout-out to the committee and the member for Kororoit, who does an extraordinary job as chair. This is a really great report, and I think there will be multipartisan interest in and support for some of the recommendations that are being put forward.

Another concerning element was the behaviour that we saw at some polling booths. There is no way that Victoria Police can be asked to front up to address volunteer or candidate concerns each and every moment, but I see concerning trends ahead where we see division in the community, and particularly some of the antics even in this place, that is legitimised in what goes from protest to disruption to intimidation. I think we have to be really careful around that line. We have seen significant examples in other jurisdictions where candidates and elected representatives have been put at risk, and I think we need to foreshadow some of the degradation of standards that we see in this place, both bringing protesters in to intimidate and close down the Parliament and even the behaviour of elected leaders in this place as well.

The inverse to that, where we see standards being raised, was the recent example of Premier Chris Minns, former Premier Dom Perrottet and former Premier Mike Baird in New South Wales. When we see cross-party representation and bipartisanship like that it should not be the exception. Rightly, Premier Chris Minns has been given accolades for the standards that he set. There was that great photo of democratically elected leaders together by the new tunnel upgrades – I think it was at Martin Place where they all gathered together to recognise that. That is the kind of spirit and democracy and integrity that we need, not some of the degradation of standards that we have seen in the United States or some of the stuff that we saw during the COVID pandemic that led into polling booths. We need to see those standards raised. Giving a little bit of your political stripes to get better outcomes is something that we should lean in on and do and see those opportunities when they present as well. That goes down to how behaviours are exhibited at polling booths.

The last thing I want to reflect on is the huge stretch of resources and the impact of having two weeks of early voting. I think it is smart and supported to have a Saturday-to-Saturday program, but there is really low voter turnout in that first week. Sometimes, as you will know, Deputy Speaker, you will see a couple of tumbleweeds go past and then a car will pull up and 10 candidates will descend. I do not think we lose anything with our low voter turnout numbers in that first week, when really the last three or four days before election day see the real surge in voting. So I think if we did a Saturday to Saturday we would ease the impact on resources. About 49.5 per cent of people vote early, 10 per cent do postal votes and then about 35 per cent vote on the day, so I think that is a really important point around Saturday to Saturday. It would be a good thing resource wise and also make it more inclusive for people at polling booths.