TRUMP-LIKE MORRISON UNDERMINING FAITH IN ELECTIONS

A series of electoral changes flagged by the Morrison-Joyce Government risk undermining Australia’s strong democracy, making it harder for many to vote.

Federal Member for Blair, Shayne Neumann has spoken out against the electoral reform measures proposed by the Government as nothing more than a thought-bubble straight out of the Donald Trump playbook.

“My Labor colleagues and I believe in Australia’s democracy and we will oppose any measures by the Morrison-Joyce Government to try to weaken it,” Mr Neumann said.

“Their proposed voter identification laws are unnecessary and burdensome, designed to make it harder for Australians to cast their vote at the next election.

“The Australian Electoral Commission has confirmed the number of vote discrepancies at Australian elections is “vanishingly small” and no one was prosecuted for multiple voting at the 2019 federal election.

“There is no need for these laws, as Queenslanders learnt under the Campbell Newman Government when Jarrod Bleijie introduced the failed voter-ID laws.”

Mr Neumann said the LNP introduced the laws in Queensland following the Electoral Commission of Queensland referral of just one person to police for casting multiple votes in the 2012 state election.

However, in the 2015 state election voter turnout was the lowest since 1980, which legal experts claimed was unusual given it was such a close election.

“This is what LNP Governments do when they want to make it harder for marginalised, disadvantaged and vulnerable people to vote.

“Labor will campaign fiercely against these proposed laws, which would require Australians to prove their identity, or risk having their vote torn up.

“This underhanded attempt to erode confidence in Australia’s elections is straight out of the playbook of the ‘Try-Hard Trump’, Scott Morrison.

“The Government’s plans would not only see a return to long queues at polling booths, but also disenfranchise vulnerable Australians by preventing them from exercising their democratic right to vote.

“People living in remote Indigenous communities, those dealing with homelessness, and Australians escaping domestic violence often don’t have the easy access to identification many take for granted.

“Instead of working for all Australians, Scott Morrison is working to ensure that those who might not vote for him, can’t vote against him.

“Instead of taking action on climate change, helping business recover from the pandemic, or funding our struggling health system – Scott Morrison is spending his time trying to make it harder to vote.

“Labor will fight against his latest attack on vulnerable Australians and their democratic rights.