Wednesday, 21 June 2023

Statements on tabled papers and petitions

Victorian Electoral Commission

Report 2021–22

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (17:17): Tonight I rise to speak on the Victorian Electoral Commission’s 2021–22 annual report, ‘Sharpening our focus’, and in doing so I want to pay tribute to the thousands of hardworking men and women of the Victorian Electoral Commission. These workers are not celebrated by the wider public – most people do not even know their names – but it is these people that keep our democracy alive. The VEC has set aims: they maintain the register of electors; they conduct the state and local government elections, statutory elections and polls, and paid services elections; and they administer political funding and donation disclosure laws. Tonight I want to talk about two of these aims and the report’s deliverables.

I want you to cast your mind back to the challenges that all Victorians faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was made aware about the struggle of scrutineering in the Victorian local council elections in 2020. It was hard, stressful and difficult work. This report touches upon the overhaul of the election services that needed to be made to conduct local government by-elections, countbacks and more under COVID-19 restrictions, and I thank the staff for their efforts.

A key objective of the VEC is to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the register of electors, which is aimed towards increasing the proportion of eligible electors that are enrolled to above the national average. I am happy to note that the number of Victorians from 2021 to 2022 that were enrolled to vote rose by 1.4 per cent. That means an estimated 97.8 per cent of Victorians are enrolled, which is above the national enrolment rate of 97.1 per cent. That is not a bad effort.

Another key aim of the VEC is to communicate with the public. This ensures that the community feels engaged and consulted while providing important education or news-related information about electoral events. This is particularly vital in an era of fake news, misinformation and bad actors who seek to undermine democracy. It is vital to the VEC’s fight against this. I would like to take the opportunity to thank our former chair of the Electoral Matters Committee, member for South-Eastern Metropolitan Mr Tarlamis, for leading the important work of inquiring into the impact of social media on elections and electoral administration, and of course fellow committee members who have contributed to that process.

To ensure the integrity of Victoria’s electoral system, the VEC also provides oversight of the state’s political funding and donation disclosure laws. Thanks to the Andrews Labor government’s 2018 electoral reforms, we have seen Victoria become the jurisdiction with the toughest donation laws in the nation. The government has announced an expert panel review into the 2018 reforms, led by a former deputy commissioner of the Victorian Electoral Commission Ms Elizabeth Williams. We look forward to further improvements.

We know the saying that the work of the next election begins the day after the previous election ends. I want to commend the VEC for their work in ensuring their draft service plan and being at the planning of the implementation stage of the state election deliverables as early as December 2021. The VEC’s task is massive. On election day almost 17,500 casual staff across more than 1800 voting centres work to safeguard our democracy. And for some they have spent weeks at pre-poll sorting and issuing enormous numbers of ballots.

Come rain, hail or shine these workers are also on the front line of abuse from members of the public. I have seen firsthand the abuse that members of the public dish out to these workers. I remember seeing a volunteer using inappropriate language and being disruptive, others encroached on the do-not-pass zones and others harassed voters. These workers must endure this shameful and rude behaviour. All workers deserve a safe work environment, particularly those safeguarding our democracy, so tonight I thank the VEC for their work in ensuring this place and the state of Victoria remain of the people and by the people. I commend the report the house.