By Melissa Fyfe
THOUSANDS of first-time voters will find themselves automatically enrolled for this year's state election, under government reforms to be announced today.
Attorney-General Rob Hulls told The Sunday Age he would soon unveil a bill to Parliament that gave the Victorian Electoral Commission the power to automatically enrol 18-year-olds without their consent or the need to fill in a form.
The move follows similar legislation in New South Wales and means both states are now out of kilter with the federal roll. As a result, young voters in Victoria must still fill out a form to enrol to vote in this year's federal election.
In his package of electoral reforms, Mr Hulls will also announce today that the practice of closing off the electoral roll, which happens several weeks from a poll, will be dumped and voters with a driver's licence or equivalent will simply be able to enrol at a polling booth on election day. Mr Hulls said 66,000 eligible Victorians attempted to vote in the 2006 election but had their ballots rejected because they were not on the roll.
The opposition has attacked the move, saying that allowing people to turn up and enrol on election day will undermine and corrupt the state's election processes. ''John Brumby wants to change the law to enable unregistered voters to walk off the street and vote without the usual checks,'' said scrutiny of government spokesman David Davis. ''At the last election, less than half this number of votes could have changed the government of Victoria.''
''Having overseen the corrupt branch stacking of the ALP, John Brumby is now trying to stack the Victorian electoral rolls,'' he said.
A parliamentary committee report last year recommended the government review automatic enrolment, but Coalition members of the committee were against it. ''This measure would turn upside down over 150 years of democratic practice in Victoria,'' they wrote in a minority report. ''For government to assert the right to enrol citizens, even without their knowledge, is fundamentally undemocratic and an abrogation of the long-held civic rights of individuals.''
But Mr Hulls said the move was about ensuring a healthy democracy. He said only 19 per cent of 17-year-olds returned the 60,000 forms sent out in birthday cards from the Victorian Electoral Commission. Under a trial process, the commission will still send the birthday cards but use information from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority to automatically put young people on the roll.
He said in the modern age of gadgets, computers and busy lives, young people struggled to fill in forms. Mr Hulls said governments should therefore do everything possible to ensure people could exercise their right to vote.
The move was welcomed by Liberty Victoria president Michael Pearce, SC. ''We have a system of compulsory voting so it does seem to me that the government should do everything it can to make sure people are enrolled.''
Greens MP Greg Barber also welcomed the reform and agreed that it would benefit his party. ''It is true that both Labor and the Greens hold the lion's share of 18 to 25-year-olds,'' he said.
Monash University political scientist Nick Economou said Labor governments generally made it easier for people to get on, and stay on, the electoral roll because younger people were more likely to vote for the progressive parties. He said conservative governments, meanwhile, made the process more difficult, using the excuse of the ''security and integrity'' of the electoral roll.
''Basically, the parties are going to do things to advance their electoral interests. It looks like the state Labor people are getting a little concerned about the state election and are trying to make sure all bases are covered before November,'' Dr Economou said.