Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Integrity of Elections) Bill 2021 [2021] AUSStaCSBSD 215 (21 October 2021)

• Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Integrity of Elections) Bill 2021
• Significant matters in delegated legislation28

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Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Integrity of Elections) Bill 2021

Purpose	This bill seeks to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to provide for the routine auditing of the electronic component of Australian federal elections and the provision of voter identification.
Sponsor	Senator Malcolm Roberts
Introduced	Senate on 1 September 2021

Significant matters in delegated legislation^[28]

1.42 Schedule 2 to the bill seeks to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Electoral Act) to provide that a person must provide a proof of identity document when voting in a Commonwealth election. Item 1 of Schedule 2 to the bill provides the definition of proof of identity document, which includes a community identity document. Item 12 of Schedule 2 seeks to insert proposed section 394A into the Electoral Act to provide that the rules can determine a number of matters in relation to community identity documents. This includes the circumstances in which a document is a community identity document and the meaning of certain terms, such as 'disadvantaged' and 'remote area'.

1.43 The committee's view is that significant matters, such as key elements of how community identity documents would be issued for voter identification purposes, should be included in primary legislation unless a sound justification for the use of delegated legislation is provided. In this instance, the explanatory memorandum contains no justification regarding why it is necessary to allow such significant matters to be set out in delegated legislation.

1.44 The committee's concerns in this instance are heightened, noting the potential impact of these matters on an elector's right to vote in Commonwealth elections. The committee notes that a legislative instrument, made by the executive, is not subject to the full range of parliamentary scrutiny inherent in bringing proposed changes in the form of an amending bill.

1.45 The committee draws this matter to the attention of senators and leaves to the Senate as a whole the appropriateness of leaving key elements of how community identity documents would be issued for voter identification purposes to delegated legislation.

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^[28] Schedule 2, item 12, proposed section 394A. The committee draws senators’ attention to this provision pursuant to Senate Standing Order 24(1)(a)(iv).