Mr MELHAM (12:37 PM) —I move opposition amendment No. 3:

(3) Schedule 1, item 10, page 4 (lines 3 to 4), omit the item, substitute:

10 After paragraph 93(8)(b)

Insert:

(ba) is serving a sentence of imprisonment which:

(i) commenced on or before the return of the writs for an election for the House of Representatives or the Senate; and

(ii) continues at the issuing of the writs for any succeeding election for the House of Representatives or the Senate, as the case may be; or

The amendment relates to a prisoner's five-year voting rule, and it amends item 10 in the amendment bill. The opposition is of the view that the provision currently in the amendment bill will deny all prisoners a vote. Hence, a person sentenced to eight weeks in gaol coinciding with an election period could not vote, yet another prisoner sentenced to two years in gaol coinciding with a favourable electoral cycle would be able to vote.

Parliament has previously accepted that certain classes of prisoners should not be able to vote, and we do not oppose that view. It is possible, however, to distinguish between major and minor crimes, as the parliament has previously done. The opposition strongly believes that the five-year rule should remain. Our amendments are designed to ensure also that if any prisoner has been continually imprisoned during the period from the return of the writs of one election to the issuing of the writs for the next election, their vote will not be admitted to the count. We believe that this provides greater consistency to the five-year rule.

We will have some shrill response from the government, saying that we are soft on crime—`What are we doing allowing those prisoners to vote?' There is already a penalty attaching to these people. I think it is worthwhile comparing what is happening in other jurisdictions that do not necessarily have Labor governments. In the ACT there are no restrictions as there is no gaol in the ACT. If people are imprisoned outside the territory, they are disqualified as they would not be residing in the territory. In the Northern Territory it is as per the Commonwealth Electoral Act—that is, a sentence of five years or more disqualifies prisoners from having a right to vote in the territory. This is a fairly conservative regime that has had a continuous conservative government. In Western Australia there is a disqualification if the sentence is for one year or longer.

In New South Wales there are no restrictions. There are postal votes and polling booths in prisons. In Victoria there are no restrictions. In South Australia there are no restrictions. The legislation gives special mail provisions to prisoners—that is, mail that is sent to returning officers by a prisoner cannot be opened. In Queensland, it is as per the Commonwealth Electoral Act—that is, disqualification in the case of a sentence of five years or longer. There is also provision for them to be entitled to enrol if they were not eligible under the Commonwealth act but they were entitled to be enrolled under the Elections Act 1983 on 31 December 1991. That earlier act allows British subjects and certain defence members, et cetera to be enrolled but disqualifies prisoners with sentences of six months or longer. This relates more to British subjects than to prisoners.

What we have here really is the government purely seeking political advantage, feeding into the prejudice in the community. We on this side say that the principle of disqualification for prisoners with gaol terms of five years or longer has been around for a long while, and we have got the situation in the states, which I have just read out, where there are governments of all political persuasions—and in recent times there have been conservative governments in most of those jurisdictions—who have made no attempt to water down the right of prisoners to vote. I think that the hangers and floggers in the government are trying to push this amendment without due regard to civil liberties and without due regard to our rights under the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. If this government keeps going the way it has, not only in this area but in other areas as well, Australia is going to be seen to be a pariah in the interna tional community as we further and further strip away the basic rights that people currently enjoy.