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Get electoral change right

REENS Leader Cassy O’Connor is right. It is embarrassing that Tasmania’s electoral donation laws are the weakest and most opaque in the country. She is also right in saying they need to be changed because they are so lax the declarations actually undermine confidence in the system by raising more questions than they provide answers to.

However, Attorney-General Elise Archer is also right. She says the most critical thing is to get the changes in this space right, that the reforms eventually imposed are considered — and that the changes made are the result of proper consultation, are legally sound, and are fair to all groups and individuals wanting to participate in our great democratic system.

And that is why the Mercury — at least so far — is content to back the government’s approach in relation to this much-needed reform. Taking the time to let the public consultation phase and formal review process properly play out is important.

We back Opposition Leader Rebecca White’s view on this. She recently acknowledged that it would be “unwise” to try and get in front of that process.

All that being said, reform is desperately needed — and wholesale change should be signed, sealed and delivered well ahead of the next election, due in 2022.

It is a bit of a shame, then, that the government has decided to extend the deadline for submissions to the review for another two months after a recent High Court decision relating to NSW electoral laws. The government says its ultimate goal of the having the review done this calendar year remains intact, however. And again, the Mercury can only accept that assurance on face value — and at the same time assure

Ms O’Connor, we know your heart is in the right place but let’s just take a breath and take the time to get this reform right.

the government that we have made a diary note for late December to ensure we call them on their failure should that timetable have slipped.

For now, the Parliament’s first job is to pass the changes to the Electoral Act that are due to be introduced in the first sitting week in early March. Those changes relate to a range of extensions to postal voting periods requested by the Electoral Commission based on Australia Post having, well, become a bit more tardy in their service over recent years. The draft Bill also repeals the bizarre ban in place in Tasmania — and here only — on newspapers reporting anything about politics on any polling day in the state. The next time this ban will be in force is on May 4, when the next round of Legislative Council elections take place. It should be removed ahead of that day, in the interests of democracy and the right of voters to be fully informed.

Ms O’Connor yesterday acknowledged repealing the outdated, unique and ridiculous ban would be an “important change to the Electoral Act” (even if she did then also go on to tell the ABC that she considered it only “very much the low-hanging fruit designed, in my view, to appease the Mercury”).

But she also revealed she planned to “put up a fight” when the Bill is introduced to convince Labor to back her in on attaching declaration changes to the Bill. For this, she believes the ill-fated 2013 legislation is “not a bad start” as a model. We say to Ms O’Connor that we know your heart is in the right place, but let’s just all take a breath and take the time to get this reform right.