Thursday, 3 April 2025

Victorian Electoral Commission

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:23): (1592) My adjournment matter is for the Premier in her capacity as minister responsible for the Victorian Electoral Commission. It concerns the Werribee by-election count and the October local government elections. Firstly, I should say there are some serious concerns surrounding the vote counting at Werribee, but I think those are best addressed by the upcoming Electoral Matters Committee inquiry.

I do want to talk about the vote-counting venue, however, which was seriously subpar. At times it was boiling hot; there was no proper air conditioning and the portable AC units were next to useless. At other points the roof leaked. The whole place was utterly overcrowded. Being a hardened political volunteer, I am used to this kind of thing, but I felt for the staff. As a work environment it was a disgrace. Frankly, if a private employer put on this kind of accommodation for staff, our Labor colleagues here would be straight on the phone to WorkSafe Victoria. All the while over the road we looked out at the palatial splendour of Wyndham council offices. Can the VEC really not stretch to a fit-for-purpose voting centre? I would be interested to know what the budget was for the facility we were all in.

I was reminded of this when I learned today that the VEC hand-deliver hard copies of all local election reports to every corner of the state. Yes, that is right. They are hand-delivering in person hard copies despite the fact we have a functioning postal service and despite the fact they are, in any case, emailed days earlier. What on earth is the justification? I am not talking about a taxi trip to councils inside the tram tracks. I mean serious journeys across regional Victoria. Quite apart from the waste of staff resources, how much is this costing? In addition to the time and travel, there will be undoubtedly accommodation and meal allowances and probably paid time off in lieu. Premier, if the VEC’s recent operation at Werribee was so shambolic with just two elections that day, how on earth will the next state election with 88 elections on one day be run adequately? The action I seek from the Premier is release of the full reckoning of the cost of hand-delivering local election reports statewide and a direction to the VEC to instead spend this money on running elections in a manner which would not shame a Third World banana republic.