Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches
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ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL 2005
(This an uncorrected proof of the daily report. It is made available under the condition that it is recognised as such.)
Continued from 18 August 2005.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I read the second reading speech from the member for Greatorex who has introduced his amendment into the House, and I basically had to ask: why? I can understand the position that the member for Greatorex has come from. We are talking about signage during election campaigns, so we are, essentially, talking about the corflutes that we tack up on fences and, in Alice Springs on power poles, to advertise our wares to the electorate. Okay, it is fairly robust times, and you would be hard pressed to find one member in here who had not had a poster defaced. Anyone who has not had a poster defaced?
Ms Carney: Yep, I have not.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: Apart from the member for Araluen, all of us have experienced the cut and thrust of an election campaign where posters are defaced. I have always thought that I looked quite attractive with the moustache and the devil's little horns and things. When you get the eyes poked out, you know you have really made it.
I can appreciate where the member for Greatorex is coming from and know that it is frustrating; they are very expensive things. During an election campaign, we want to have as much exposure as we can with our best photo on a corflute.
I am not trying to diminish what, obviously, is your concern in this amendment, but any damage or defacing of this corflute signage is actually covered under current legislation. I cannot see why we would make it a special electoral offence - no other place in Australia does - under the Electoral Act. I am sure, as the member for Greatorex does know, penalties already exist under the Criminal Code for stealing or defacing property, and that is essentially what we are talking about. Currently, there are those penalties so, if somebody is sprung poking my eyes out, there is a penalty if I choose to press charges. Or if I they are caught putting a moustache and a little beard on, I can take some action under the Criminal Code. I quote those current provisions:
Any person who unlawfully damages any property is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for two years.
That is section 251(1). Definitions in Schedule 1 says:
'damages' include destroys and, when used in relation to a document or writing, includes obliterating and rendering it illegible either in whole or in part …
Also:
'property' means everything, animate or inanimate, capable of being the subject of ownership, including –
(a) things in action and other intangible property ...
Section 251 is pretty substantial and covers all these aspects of any criminal damage or any damage to the things we are talking about in an electorate context. I really cannot see what the point is of having another amendment to the Electoral Act to add a second layer of this kind of criminal damage.
I inform the member for Greatorex that the Electoral Commissioner is reviewing the last Northern Territory election. We have passed your concerns on to him for that review and they will be considered in the context of the report that the Electoral Commissioner will write regarding the last Territory election. I am not going to prejudge the Electoral Commissioner, but we do have the legislation, the laws in place, to tackle the kind of things you are targeting in this amendment. We do not need layer upon layer of legislation.
On behalf of the Territory community, I apologise if your posters were badly damaged. Every one of us have had bouts over our time in parliament where you have good elections where nobody does much to us – the member for Araluen has had two of those so far – and our posters come through fairly unscathed. Therefore, from a government point of view, these amendments are not supported.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I am curious that Chief Minister does not understand what her own legislation is about. The Electoral Commission governs all things to do with an election yet, when it comes to a wrongdoing within the election campaign period, the Electoral Commissioner has no means to deal with anything outside the actual day of the polling day. That is all he has; the rest is a non-event until after the election and you have to put in your electoral returns.
It is curious the Chief Minister talks with ridicule – anything happens during an election, what the heck. It does not matter if your corflutes or whatever electioneering material you have gets destroyed - whether accidentally or deliberately. Sure, there is other legislation in the Territory that this can take care of but, when you complain to the very person who is in charge of the process you are in at the moment, that person has no jurisdiction. I rang the Electoral Commissioner and said there was a problem and asked what he was doing about it. He said he could not do anything as it was not in his legislation. It is beyond belief that an authority which is given the business of looking after conducting elections in a proper manner cannot do anything if there is a wrongdoing within that election period.
Obviously, the government is not going to support it. It is happy to support dirty tricks and everything it takes to win an election. Well, they did not, in my instance, of course; they did not. Try as they might, and spend as much money as they wanted to, they could not. Even to the extent of stealing my posters they still could not be successful. That is the issue, isn't it …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: I touched a very sensitive spot, didn't I? Obviously, on the other side of the Chamber, anything goes as far as elections are concerned. It does not matter whether it is bullying, stealing or doing wilful damage. It does not matter. They can go on with it and, if that is the way elections will descend into the gutter, then so be it. However, I believe it is a terrible pity that we in the Territory would descend to that level of behaviour. So-called adults, mature people, who purport to represent the community and be leaders of the community with standards of behaviour which should be beyond reproach; there they are …
Ms Lawrie: What do you want to do, lock up kids?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: It does not matter; ridicule does not matter. Dirty tricks, it is okay; destroy the opponent's corflutes, it is okay - everything goes. That is the way it is; I expected it, anyway. I am not going to be able to do anything else, but I thought maybe this government would be one for honesty and fair play. Obviously, that is not going to be. It is a real tragedy that the government that purports to be honest, comes to the Territory and says: 'Vote for us, we will look after you'. Well, they do not look after fair play and that is a real pity.
Motion negatived.
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