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Call for Submissions

Submissions closed on Friday, 17 January 2014.

Objectives of the Bill

The policy objectives of the Bill are to amend the Electoral Act 1992 to ensure the opportunity for full participation in Queensland’s electoral process and to enhance voter integrity and voting convenience.

To achieve the policy objectives, the Bill introduces a number of legislative changes including:

• removing the caps on donations and expenditure as unnecessarily restricting participation in the political process;
• increasing the disclosure threshold to $12400 to more closely align with the threshold applying at the Commonwealth level;
• returning the basis for electoral public funding to a stated dollar amount per vote and increasing the threshold for entitlement to public funding from 4% to 10% of the primary vote to reduce the cost of funding to the community;
• facilitating electronically assisted voting, particularly to ensure access to secret and independent voting for blind and vision impaired voters; and voters who require assistance because of a disability, motor impairment or insufficient literacy;
• changing particular requirements in relation to postal voting to make it more convenient and accessible for voters;
• in recognition of how-to-vote cards as an important resource for voters—providing the cards are to be made available on the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) website and granting the ECQ power to refuse to register a card if it is satisfied it is likely to mislead or deceive a voter in casting their vote; and
• implementing a proof of identity requirement to vote in a state election in a non-discriminatory way that reduces the potential for electoral fraud.

Other Information

The Electoral Reform Amendment Bill 2013 and Explanatory Notes are available from the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel at www.legislation.qld.gov.au.

The Hansard transcript of the introductory speech for the Bill can be accessed here.

Public Briefing

The Committee held a public briefing on this Bill, and a number of other Bills, with the Department of Justice and Attorney-General at Parliament House, Brisbane on Thursday 12 December 2013.

The briefing was broadcast live on the Queensland Parliament website.

Copies of the final transcript can be accessed here or at Related Publications.

Public Hearing

The Committee held a public hearing on this Bill, and a number of other Bills, with invited witnesses at Parliament House, Brisbane on Thursday 6 February 2014.  The hearing was broadcast live on the Queensland Parliament website

A copy of the schedule can be accessed here.

Copies of the transcript can be accessed at Related Publications.

Reasons for the Bill

Further information, including the reasons for the Bill, appear in the Explanatory Notes which can be viewed here.

Referral

On 21 November 2013 the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the Honourable Jarrod Bleijie MP, introduced the Electoral Reform Amendment Bill 2013 into the Queensland Parliament.  In accordance with Standing Order 131 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, the Bill was referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (the Committee) for detailed consideration.

By motion of the Committee of the Legislative Assembly, the Committee is required to report to the Parliament by 24 February 2014. 

Report

On 24 February 2014, the Committee tabled its Report No. 56, Electoral Reform Amendment Bill 2013. A copy of the report is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Government tabled its response to the Committee's report on 21 May 2014. A copy of the Government Response is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Electoral Reform Amendment Bill 2013 was passed, with amendment, by the Legislative Assembly on 22 May 2014.