Governments need to act to ensure our privacy is protected, hence why for three years Sandy has raised the issue of how parties and Members of Parliament (MPs) use the mailing out of postal ballot requests to residents to obtain information, via Reply Paid envelopes that go firstly to a party’s or MP’s own mailbox address, prior to being forwarded on to the Electoral Commission Queensland (ECQ). This directly impacts Queenslander’s privacy, and to not legislate that reply paid envelopes indicate who the Reply-Paid address belongs to, is subversive and makes no sense.

Queenslanders deserve to know what is happening to their private information and how it is being used, so they can make a choice whether to readdress their request to the ECQ direct.

As per our March 2023 Noosa 360 update, Sandy has previously raised this during budget hearings in Parliament and has posed Questions on Notice (QONs) to the Queensland Attorney General, whose responses can be viewed at the links below:

Reviewing this is supported by Noosa State Electorate residents, showcased by last year’s annual Noosa MP Community Survey results.  87% of residents who participated agreed to:

“Banning political parties and MP’s from sending Application for Postal Votes with PO Box Reply Paid Envelopes that go to their Head Office rather than direct to the Electoral Commission”.

We welcome the Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ report following their review into the conduct of the 2022 federal election, which directly addressed the postal vote form issue, which is just as relevant for Commonwealth elections as it is for state elections.

The full report is available here with the relevant excerpt below:

The Committee acknowledges the concerns raised by submitters and the AEC that the PVA process can be confusing for some voters and the challenges with ensuring that voters not only receive materials in time.

The Committee agrees with the views of many submitters, including the AEC, that enabling political parties and candidates to distribute and collect Postal Vote Applications creates confusion, privacy concerns, no longer aligns with community expectations, and that legislative reform is required.

Recommendation 20

The Committee recommends that section 184AA of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, application forms for postal votes, be amended or removed, so that postal vote applications can no longer be included with other material.

Recommendation 21

The Committee recommends that section 184 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 be amended to clarify that postal vote applications must be sent directly to the Australian Electoral Commission’s nominated addresses.

We shall be continuing our efforts to see an end to this practice, alongside a couple of other matters that Queenslanders may be unaware of.

Further Information

Further direct advocacy regarding this can be directed to the Queensland Attorney General via attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au. Please cc’ our office in via noosa@parliament.qld.gov.au and forward any response you receive to us.

The 2024 annual Noosa MP Community Survey is currently being conducted at www.sandybolton.com/your-say-annual-survey and is open until 1pm January 16 2024.

For our previous Noosa 360 updates on Electoral Law reform, please visit www.sandybolton.com/?s=electoral+laws+and+political+parties