Commonwealth Numbered Acts

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER COMMISSION ACT 1989 No. 150 of 1989 - SECT 113

113. (1) The Minister may, after consulting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Commission and the Electoral Commissioner, make rules, not
inconsistent with this Act, prescribing:

   (a)  the manner in which Regional Council elections are to be conducted
        (including elections conducted because previous elections have been
        declared to be void); and

   (b)  the manner in which casual vacancies in Regional Councils are to be
        filled.

(2) The matters that may be dealt with in rules under subsection (1) include,
but are not limited to, the following matters:

   (a)  the use of an electoral roll or voter cards to establish an
        entitlement to vote or to make a record of the persons who have cast
        votes;

   (b)  the functions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander liaison
        officers in connection with the determination of a person's
        entitlement to vote;

   (c)  the nomination of candidates for election;

   (d)  ballot papers and forms;

   (e)  postal voting;

   (f)  mobile polling, including the appointment and duties of mobile polling
        teams and matters relating to polling by such teams;

   (g)  confidentiality of voting;

   (h)  the employment by the Australian Electoral Commission of staff,
        including polling staff, in connection with elections;

   (j)  the scrutiny and counting of votes;

   (k)  the declaration of the poll.

(3) The rules may make provisions entitling Aboriginal persons and Torres
Strait Islanders to vote at Regional Council elections even if those persons
would not be entitled so to vote pursuant to subparagraph 101 (b) (i) and,
without limiting the generality of the foregoing, may make provision in
relation to the following matters:

   (a)  the determination of the Regional Council election at which a person
        is entitled to vote if:

        (i)    the person's name is on the Commonwealth Electoral Roll; but

        (ii)   pursuant to a provision of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918,
               the person's place of living or address is not shown on the
               Commonwealth Electoral Roll;

   (b)  how a vote cast by a person is to be dealt with where:

        (i)    the person was entitled to have his or her name on the
               Commonwealth Electoral Roll; but

        (ii)   the person's name was not on that Roll because of a mistake by
               a person exercising powers or performing functions under the
               Commonwealth  Electoral Act 1918 ;

   (c)  the casting of a provisional vote by a person whose name does not, on
        the polling day, appear to be on the Commonwealth Electoral Roll;

   (d)  the circumstances in which a provisional vote cast pursuant to rules
        made under paragraph (c) is to be accepted.

(4) The rules may provide penalties for breaches of the rules not exceeding:

   (a)  in the case of a natural person-$1,000; or

   (b)  in the case of a body corporate-$5,000.

(5) Where:

   (a)  the rules create an offence in relation to Regional Council elections
        that corresponds to an offence under the
        Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918; and

   (b)  the maximum pecuniary penalty for the offence under the Commonwealth 
        Electoral Act 1918 exceeds the penalty that, by subsection (4), could
        be imposed for a breach of the rules; the rules may provide a maximum
        penalty for the first-mentioned offence not exceeding the maximum
        pecuniary penalty for the corresponding offence under the
        Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, but nothing in this subsection
        enables the rules to provide penalties of imprisonment.

(6) In making rules under subsection (1), the Minister shall have regard to
the desirability of providing for Regional Council elections to be conducted
in a manner similar to the manner in which elections for the Parliament are
conducted with a view to increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
understanding of, and participation in, elections for the Parliament.

(7) Nothing in subsection (6) prevents the Minister making rules:

   (a)  that take account of the special circumstances of Aboriginal persons
        or Torres Strait Islanders; or

   (b)  that will enable significant reductions in the costs of conducting
        Regional Council elections.

(8) Rules made by the Minister under subsection (1) are a disallowable
instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 
1901 .

(9) Section 48 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 applies in relation to
rules made by the Minister under subsection (1), other than rules made for the
purposes of the first round of Regional Council elections, as if paragraph (1)
(b) of that section were omitted and the following paragraph were substituted:

"(b) subject to this section, shall take effect on the first day on which the
rules are no longer liable to be disallowed, or to be deemed to have been
disallowed, under this section; and".