Wednesday, 16 October 2024

 Katie HALL (Footscray) (10:24): I am very pleased to make a contribution on the Electoral Matters Committee report relating to its inquiry into the conduct of the 2022 Victorian state election. That is perhaps timely as I have been reflecting a little bit on some of the poor behaviour that we have been seeing in council elections that has been well documented in the newspapers in recent times across Victoria. We have a very serious responsibility here. We are seeing across the world that the polarisation of political views is leading to some really appalling behaviour.

The 2022 Victorian state election was a shocker. I know that a lot of the people on this side of the chamber had similar experiences to me. I have never experienced such a distressing election campaign, and I have volunteered for many in my life. Particularly in my electorate of Footscray – many people submitted to the inquiry about this issue, so it was not just in Footscray – we saw excessive numbers of campaigners harassing people as they tried to participate in the democratic process. I had people spitting on my how-to-vote cards. Throughout the pre-poll period – this was at a time when COVID was still a very serious concern – I had sometimes two or three members of the Victorian Socialists trying to prevent me from speaking to people and physically blocking me and touching me the whole time.

At the time of my campaign – I would like to acknowledge the good people of the Footscray branch of the Labor Party, who supported me and acted with dignity and respect to all the other campaigners at the time – it became very clear to me that we had a massive problem. I have been informed since the campaign that the Victorian Socialists had people who had flown in from around the country and were residing in my electorate to participate in the campaign. They had no idea of local issues, none, but were aggressively pursuing people as they were trying to get out of their cars, cross the road and vote on Barkly Street. I think the location of some of the pre-poll venues was really challenging and contributed to poor environments. Anyone who knows Barkly Street in Footscray would know that it is a very busy high street. To be accosted basically by 20-odd campaigners was like something at university student union elections. I have never seen anything like it.

Multiple submitters to the inquiry observed excessive numbers of campaigners. One of the recommendations was that the Victorian Electoral Commission inform all stakeholders that there is a general expectation that no more than three campaigners for each party and independent candidate be actively campaigning at any voting centre. We need to give people some space and some dignity, especially elderly people or people with a disability. In a neighbouring electorate we saw one of the Socialists knock a voter over on the street and an ambulance had to be called. What sort of an environment is that for us to be managing our democratic processes, of which we are very proud? The VEC do a spectacular job. I commend this report and thank the members of the committee for their work on this important issue.