FLASHBACK

Finding fault where there was none before

(Apr 4, 2006) SOMETHING puzzling has happened at the Australian Electoral Commission over the past 12 months.

In March 2005, when it made its first submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the 2004 federal election, the AEC expressed no concern whatsoever about the workload it faces at each election, when voters are given seven days' grace to enrol or to update their enrolments.

Nor did it express its support for the argument that the last-minute rush of enrolments creates opportunities for electoral fraud. Although several members of the committee repeatedly returned to the issue, they failed to persuade the commission to support the closure of the electoral roll as soon as the prime minister calls an election.

Almost exactly a year later, appearing before a Senate committee on March 7, recently appointed Australian Electoral Commissioner Ian Campbell expressed almost exactly the opposite view.

The committee was inquiring into the innocuously titled Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Bill [PDF], which proposes to abolish the period of grace and - if history is any guide - prevent perhaps 300,000 otherwise eligible people from voting at the next federal election. The committee reported to the Senate on March 28 and the Coalition majority supported early roll closure.