Commonwealth Numbered Acts

REFERENDUM (MACHINERY PROVISIONS) ACT 1984 No. 44, 1984 - SECT 51

51. (1) In this section-

''leader'' means a person appointed under this section to be the leader of a
team;

''station'' means a place at which a visit is being made by a team under this
section;

''team'' means a mobile polling team appointed under this section.

(2) The Electoral Commission may appoint persons to be members of mobile
polling teams for the purposes of this section and, in respect of each team, a
person to be the leader.

(3) In relation to a remote Subdivision declared under sub-section 79 (2) of
the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, the following provisions of this section
apply in addition to, and without derogation from, the application of any
other provision of this Act.

(4) The Electoral Commission-

   (a)  may, subject to sub-section (5), by notice published in the Gazette
determine the places, days and times of visits to be made by a team for the
purposes of this section; and

   (b)  shall take such steps as it thinks fit to give public notice of those
        places, days and times.

(5) A day determined under sub-section (4) shall be any of the 12 days
preceding voting day, voting day, or a day to which the voting is adjourned.

(6) A team shall make a visit or visits as determined under sub-section (4),
but, if, for reasonable cause, the team is unable, or the leader considers it
inappropriate, to make such a visit, the leader may substitute another place,
day or time for the visit and, if he does so, shall-

   (a)  take such steps as he thinks fit to give public notice of the
        substituted place, day or time; and

   (b)  inform the appropriate Divisional Returning Officer.

(7) Any failure by a team to make a visit in accordance with this section does
not invalidate the result of the referendum.

(8) At any time when a team is at a station for the purposes of taking votes
under this section at a referendum-

   (a)  the team shall have ballot-boxes, ballot-papers and such other things
        as are necessary for the votes of electors to be taken at the station;

   (b)  every person at the station who is an elector for the State or
        Territory in which the station is situated is entitled to have his
        vote taken under this section;

   (c)  for purposes of, and in connection with, the taking of votes under
        this section-

        (i)    the station shall be deemed to be a polling place;

        (ii)   the building, structure, vehicle or enclosure used by the
               leader for the purposes of taking votes under this section
               shall be deemed to be a polling booth; and

        (iii)  the leader shall be deemed to be the presiding officer at that
               polling booth;

   (d)  so far as is practicable, a vote under this section shall be taken as
        if it were taken under the other provisions of this Act (other than
        sections 48 and 49) including such of those provisions as relate to
        absent voting; and

   (e)  section 131 applies as if-

        (i)    the reference in sub-section 131 (1) to voting day and to all
               days to which the voting is adjourned were a reference to the
               time of the visit; and

        (ii)   the reference in sub-section 131 (2) to the hours on which the
               polling booth is open were a reference to that time.

(9) Paragraph 29 (1) (a) does not apply to a leader after the first visit made
by him for the purposes of this section.

(10) At the end of the last visit made by a leader for the purposes of this
section, he shall, in the presence of a member of his team and any scrutineers
appointed under section 27 who may be in attendance, publicly close, fasten,
seal and take charge of each ballot-box used by him for the purposes of this
section and, with the least possible delay, forward it for the purposes of
scrutiny to the appropriate Assistant Returning Officer designated for the
purposes of this sub-section by the Divisional Returning Officer.

(11) Where an elector has voted under this section at a referendum, any postal
ballot-paper received by a Divisional Returning Officer that is, or that
purports to be, a postal ballot-paper of the voter shall not be admitted in
the scrutiny in relation to the referendum.