Industrial News 2007

February 2007

Making your vote count

A major aspect of the combined unions and ACTU “Your Rights @ Work” campaign against the Howard government’s industrial relations laws is to highlight their impact in the lead up to the next federal election which is to be held toward the end of 2007.

The campaign also seeks to highlight the differences in the industrial relations approaches of the major political parties and for these differences to be a major factor in the way people vote in the upcoming federal election.

With most opinion polls showing that industrial relations laws are an ongoing concern for working people is not surprising that the federal government is now implementing measures designed to minimise the voting impact at the next election.

The Howard government has announced it intends to change the existing electoral laws. The proposed changes will make it more difficult for people to register to vote.

Firstly, the government intends to change the requirements to register. Currently the enrolment form requires only one witness who can be a family member. Under the proposed changes those seeking to enroll will need to meet a more stringent identity test requiring two people who are not related to the voter to act as witnesses.

In the past, voters had a full week after the announcement of the election date to enroll or update their electoral details. The Australian Electoral Commission would use this time to conduct advertising campaigns informing the public of the deadline which is widely published in the other media. Under the Howard government’s changes the electoral rolls will now close to new voters at 8pm on the day the election is announced. Existing voters who wish to make changes to their enrolment details will have only three days under the new system.

Given the importance of the next federal election in allowing people to voice their opposition to the unfair industrial relations laws, one of the primary aims of the combined unions and ACTU campaign is to ensure that all workers are correctly enrolled to vote.

The Electoral Commission estimate that 5,500 voters (around 6% of voters) in a federal electorate are incorrectly enrolled or not on the roll. This means that in each federal electorate there are around 1,000 union members whose vote may be wasted if they are incorrectly or not enrolled to vote at the next federal election.

Nurses who wish to make their vote count should ensure that all enrolment details are up to date. Those who have not previously enrolled should register to vote as soon as possible.

Further information on these issues can be obtained at www.aec.gov.au

Nick Blake
ANF Federal Industrial Officer