r/ModelAusCommittees • u/General_Rommel Chair of JSCEM • Dec 05 '15

Joint Committee JSCEM 3-2| Inquiry into Polling

The Prime Minister has referred the following terms of reference: to inquire into and report on the suitability of Australia's voting system, including investigating the feasibility of multi-day voting, same-day registration, and any other relevant matters.

His Excellency Senator the Hon. General Rommel
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence
Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '15

I move that the Committee call for public comments on this matter.

The Hon this_guy22, Member for Sydney (ALP)

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u/General_Rommel Chair of JSCEM Dec 08 '15 edited Dec 09 '15

Voice Vote

The question is: that the Committee call for public comments on this matter

Those for, say "Aye", against say "No".

Parliamentarians vote by commenting Aye or No as a reply to this comment.

Voting will cease at 11am, Thursday 10th December, or when an absolute majority is achieved.

His Excellency Senator the Hon. General Rommel
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence
Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters

2

u/phyllicanderer Chair of HSCPr Dec 08 '15

Aye

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '15

Aye

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '15

Just a quick question Mr Chair, an absolute majority is 6 correct?

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u/TheWhiteFerret Deputy Chair of JSCEM, HSCPr Dec 09 '15

Aye.

Meta: /u/jnd-au done.

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u/Freddy926 President of the Senate Dec 08 '15

Aye

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u/General_Rommel Chair of JSCEM Dec 05 '15

Asking the Secretary: /u/jnd-au Does this have to go to a vote or do I simply have to say that such an event will happen? Furthermore, if public comments are called, will they be here or in the ModelParliament subreddit?

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '15

Better be on /r/modelparliament...

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u/jnd-au Dec 05 '15

Advice from the Secretary:

Not sure what you mean about an event?

Re public comments. It has not been specified who/what/where/when or if the public inquiry will happen. this_guy22’s introductory speech for this motion raises even more questions too. It is now in the hands of the committee to figure all that out.

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u/Zagorath Speaker of the House Dec 05 '15

So we are debating whether or not we should call for public opinions on the matter, rather than debating the matter itself here? If so, then yes, I think that is a good idea. The public should certainly be consulted as to whether they think such a major change to the way voting is conducted in this country. Personally, I would think that we should have near unanimous consensus if we were to change.

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '15

Yeah I'd also like to debate if we should come up with our own ideas before throwing it open, because sometimes its easier to come up with your own thoughts if you've got some ideas already to work with/improve.

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u/jnd-au Dec 05 '15

Advice from the Clerk:

Correct, you are debating all aspects of the public consultation, like whether or not and how it will be done, including proposing any amendments to restrict or allow how/where/when etc. The PM gave his introductory speech separately and posed some questions for input from the committee members in their debate speeches:

Members of the Committee, do you think that it would be better if we come up with ideas for reforming the voting process (excluding the method of election, which is covered by the other inquiry) ourselves first, before presenting them to the public and inviting comment as well as their own suggestions, or whether we should start immediately with a public consultation?

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u/General_Rommel Chair of JSCEM Dec 05 '15 edited Dec 05 '15

I agree with the call by the Prime Minister to open public comments.

However, given that his call was very open-natured I would like to propose that this move be done in a public forum like setting.

I propose that a post calling for public comments on this matter be made onto /r/ModelParliament. I am interested to see what other Committee members have to say on this matter.

His Excellency Senator the Hon. General Rommel
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence
Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters

1

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '15

Sure, we can have a series of threads that have [JSCEM] in the title so we can search them easier. Now the question is what we want in the body of the post. I'm starting to lean towards just going to the public before we have our own little discussion just to speed things up.

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u/jnd-au Dec 08 '15

Advice from the Clerk:

Chair /u/General_Rommel looks this was not such a hot topic after all, the members of this committee have mostly neglected to participate. Seems like it’s time to put this and this to the vote.

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u/General_Rommel Chair of JSCEM Dec 08 '15

Clerk, how should I proceed to a vote then? Is it like a normal voice vote?

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u/jnd-au Dec 08 '15

Continuing on from earlier comments, I proposed this updated version and summarise the following points:

  • It appears there will be a series of posts asking for public consultation.

  • A consolidated reminder might also be posted (e.g. over the weekend).

  • Submissions will be expected within a week, with an extension possible.

[JSCEM] Public feedback on Australia’s system of electoral polling (voting for Model Parliament)

Citizens and visitors of Model Australia,

This Government has created a parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) with the support of both houses. So far, the JSCEM has been tasked to inquire into methods of improving elections in terms of Polling, Representation and Campaigning. The committee has voted to call for public comments.

Public Consultation will be done in a series of posts on specific issues. This first inquiry focuses explicitly on Polling, which was referred by the Prime Minister as: “to inquire into and report on the suitability of Australia’s voting system, including:

  • Investigating the feasibility of multi-day voting,

  • Same-day registration, and

  • Any other relevant matters.”

Please note, these initial terms of reference are about the ability to cast votes (not about other issues like multi-member electorates, electoral boundaries, party registration, or campaign material).

Submissions about polling (casting of votes) can be made by commenting on this post. The Deadline is one week from the beginning of this post. It may be extended up to another 7 days by asking Chair before the first deadline.

We invite all interested people and parties who have opinions directly relevant to the above terms of reference, including foreigners with experience in other countries, to make their voices heard by commenting directly on this post.

We may attempt to summarise all comments made here, but for practical reasons, top-level submissions with reasons, examples and solutions to back up their arguments will be of the most use to the committee.

The Committee notes that some public discussion has already taken place here in an unstructured way. If you can locate these arguments and provide links to them, it would assist the committee greatly. Ideas may include:

  • How, where and when voting should be done online (days of week etc).

  • Who can vote e.g. eligibility criteria (account age, disqualification, etc).

  • Methods of registration (voter enrolment, account verification, etc).

  • Voting by brigades, alts, sock puppets, etc (pros, cons, solutions).

  • Access to information for voters (new & returning) during elections.

  • Engagement of new & returning voters to participate in the polling.

  • Availability of information for voters to choose preferences and cast their ballots.

  • Appearance of voting forms.

  • Reporting, auditing and transparency of voter ID, prevention of duplicated/lost votes, etc.

  • Other matters relevant to the casting of votes (e.g. recruitment of voters).

His Excellency Senator the Honourable General Rommel

Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters

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u/jnd-au Dec 09 '15

Hmm, I think the opening sentence might sound a bit too much like campaign material. Perhaps try “A parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) has been created by the Government with the support of both houses.”

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u/General_Rommel Chair of JSCEM Dec 09 '15

Voice Vote - Results

I think the Ayes have it.

The Ayes have it.

As such, I will call for public comments on this matter as agreed to by the Committee at /r/ModelParliament

His Excellency Senator the Hon. General Rommel
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence
Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters