The amended Referendum Machinery (Provisions) Act 1984 passes the Senate after two weeks of intense – and probably somewhat brutal – negotiations following initial tabling in the House of Representatives on 1 December 2022 and a short inquiry by the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Matters. The inquiry attracted 78 submissions about half of which dealt with the provisions of the Act and suggested a wide range of improvements. In the end, the Government did a deal with the Opposition which had voted against the bill in the House to secure their support, Stage 1 of getting bipartisan unity on YES to the actual referendum question.
To about 40 pages of consequential amendments arising from changes to electoral laws since 1999, eg allowing pre-poll and postal voting, were added a large number of amendments in the Senate including those tabled by the Government reflecting agreements with the Opposition principally reinstatement of the section providing for a YES/NO case pamphlet written by politicians as well as making provision to spend $9.5m on a neutral education campaign and adding a 72 hour media blackout (does not apply to social media). A large number of highly desirable amendments proposed by the Senate crossbench to enable maximum participation by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, on the day enrolment and more controls over donations including monitoring in real time were rejected because, with the Coalition’s support, the Government did not need to deal with the crossbench to pass the bill.
Still the Act is crying out for further improvement. There just has to be a better way to replace the contentious pamphlet with the provision of neutral, vetted information for all voters (it is be scrutinised by a new parliamentary committee this time but that’s hardly reassuring). It is also clear that the Government made problems for itself by not revealing all of its plans at the time of initial tabling particularly in relation to the pamphlet, funding and the civics program so preparation was sloppy or just poor political judgement. A total rethink of the conduct of referendums must be an immediate priority for republic campaigners and the Act redrafted for fairness, maximum participation and modernised in readiness for the next one. The article below contains some further commentary on the outcome of the bills passing and the desirability of making further changes outside the heat of an impending referendum campaign. [“The referendum rules have been decided. What does this mean for the Voice?” by Dr Paul Kildea, The Conversation online, 24 March 2023]
