Electoral Act Review - Final Report

On 3 May 2018 the Premier, the Hon. Will Hodgman, announced that a review would be undertaken of Tasmania’s Electoral Act 2004 and associated election laws to be jointly conducted by the Department of Justice and the Department of Premier and Cabinet (the Review).

The Review has been guided by two principles: protecting freedom of speech, with note to Constitutional implications; and minimal cost to the taxpayer.

The Terms of Reference for the Review are:

1. Modernising the current Tasmanian Electoral Act, with specific examinations of sections including section 191(1)(b), 196(1) and 198(1)(b);
2. Whether state-based disclosure rules should be introduced, and, if so, what they should include; and
3. The level of regulation of third parties, including Unions, during election campaigns.

The Terms of Reference for the Review were released for public consultation from 12 June to 20 July 2018.

The Interim Report was informed by the submissions on the Terms of Reference, recent case law and the experience of other Australian jurisdictions including legislative models in place in those jurisdictions.

The Interim Report provided a summary of this information and preliminary analysis and posed 20 consultation issues to guide consultation. The Interim Report was released for public consultation on 20 December 2018, which closed on 15 April 2019.

In addition, a draft Bill containing a number of minor and technical amendments proposed for introduction as the first tranche of reforms resulting from the Review was released for consultation at this time. The amendments were passed by both Houses of Parliament and have since commenced.

The Final Report

The Final Report (PDF, 6.7 MB) has now been released.

It is divided into four sections which largely align with the three Terms of Reference for the Review and include an additional section relating to implementation issues for the proposed reforms.

The Final Report makes 11 recommendations. Several of these recommendations contain a number of sub-sections. This detail is included to ensure readers can form an accurate picture of the reforms proposed.

Submissions

The submissions received on the Terms of Reference and the Interim Report are now available below, other than those submissions, or parts of submission, which the Tasmanian Government Public Submissions Policy provides are not for publication. That includes submissions from exempt bodies; duplicate or updated submissions, personal, sensitive or offensive or defamatory information; information the submitter requested be confidential; information that does not substantively comment on relevant issues; or that would be exempt under the Right to Information Act 2009 or contrary to the Personal Information Protection Act 2004.

Terms of Reference

Interim Report