27 September 2019 Committee Secretary Joint S
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__________________________________________________________________________________ 27 September 2019 Committee Secretary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) PO Box 6021 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Via email only: [email protected] Dear Committee Secretary, Submission to the JSCEM Inquiry into and report on all aspects of the conduct of the 2019 Federal Election and matters related thereto 1. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the submission responsive to the Terms of Reference of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ (‘JSCEM’) regarding the Inquiry into and report on all aspects of the conduct of the 2019 Federal Election and matters related thereto. Introduction 2. I am a lawyer based in Brisbane, Queensland. I was a candidate in the 2019 federal election in the federal division of Dickson in Queensland (‘Dickson’). On or about 18 May 2018, I was preselected by the Queensland Greens for the federal division of Dickson. I spent the best part of 10 months campaigning in relation to the 2018-2019 federal election from about July 2018 to May 2019. 3. I note the broad Terms of Reference for this inquiry as follows: That the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters inquire into and report on all aspects of the conduct of the 2019 Federal Election and matters related thereto.1 4. The matter I wish to provide a submission on is the occurrence of misleading How-to- Vote brochures that were handed out at about 9 polling booths across Dickson on Election Day, 18 May 2019, under the title “Vote for Queensland – How to Vote for a Minor Party or Independent” and which directly contradicted the official How-to-Vote Card of my campaign and the official How-to-Vote cards of other Minority Parties and the Independent Candidate for Dickson. 5. It is my submission that prima facie the misleading How-to-Vote brochures appear to contravene section 329(1) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, (‘the Act’) and, in order to protect the integrity of Australia’s proud democratic electoral processes, our system of representative and responsible government,2 and the objects and purposes of the Act, that such contraventions should be further investigated and prosecuted in order to deter similar mischief into the future. My Official How-to-Vote Cards 1 Available on the JSCEM website: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Electoral_Matters/2019Federalelection/Terms_of_Reference 2 As guaranteed by ss.7 and 24 of the Constitution of Australia 1901 (Cth). __________________________________________________________________________________ 6. My How-to-Vote brochures for the 2019 election were as follows:3 Events of Election Day 2019 3 The full authorisation reads: “Authorised by K Carra for The Green, 102 McDonald Rd, Windsor, 4030. Printed on 100% recycled materials by Exact Print, 17/30 Smith Street, Capalaba 4157 – AN 2019/0324.” 2 __________________________________________________________________________________ 7. On the morning of 18 May 2019, I was campaigning and handing out How-to-Vote brochures for my campaign at the Patricks Road School polling booth, Ferny Hills, Qld. The location of the school is 238-256 Patricks Road, Ferny Hills QLD 4055. 8. It was a large polling booth area with a long line of people in front of the building for most of the day. ABC TV and Channel 7 were broadcasting live from the booth throughout the morning including interviewing members of the public and candidates about their election day and voting experiences. 9. During the morning, I was approached by a volunteer of my campaign who notified me of a young man and young woman both dressed in maroon t-shirts and maroon baseball caps emblazoned with the words “Vote for Queensland”, who were handing out the following How-to-Vote brochures ("Armstrong How-to-Vote Brochures”) which were double-sided as follows: Authorisation and Authoriser 3 __________________________________________________________________________________ 10. You will note that the misleading brochures contain the following authorisation:4 Authorised by Warwick Armstrong, . 11. I do not know Warwick Armstrong nor the authorisation address. However, I was subsequently sent two photos from a colleague which I am informed was the front of the property located at , taken on election day 18 May 2019. A Peter Dutton campaign corflute sign from the Liberal National Party (LNP) was visible in the front of the location: 12. On 1 June 2019, I was also sent a photograph of the front of this address , by Mr. Thor Probhaksa, the Independent Candidate for Dickson. I am informed that the photo was taken when he attended upon the residence on Saturday 1 June 2019, and, as can be seen in the below photo a Pauline Hanson One Nation campaign corflute sign and a “Stop Shorten” campaign sign were lying in the driveway in front of the house: 4 As required by s. 321D Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. 4 __________________________________________________________________________________ Misleading Content as to Preferences and the Composition of Parliament 13. The Armstrong How-To-Vote Brochures use the official Greens party logo (and official logos of other minor parties and the Independent candidate Thor Prohaska) and misleadingly and mischievously misrepresent Greens preference flows (and those of all the minority party candidates listed therein) and falsely instruct readers to direct preferences to favour LNP candidate and incumbent Peter Dutton over and above the Australian Labor Party candidate, Ali France. 14. Upon seeing the misleading Armstrong How-to-Vote Brochures, I was quite shocked as neither I, nor The Green or The Queensland Greens, had provided permission, nor delegated authority, to any other person to produce or reproduce How-to-Vote brochures on behalf of myself or my campaign. 15. It is important to stress that the ballot paper guide provided in the Armstrong How-to- Vote Brochures and the suggested numbered order of preferred candidates for any voter who wished to vote for me was completely contradictory to my official How-to- Vote guideline and the numbered order of candidates as detailed in my How-to-Vote brochure authorised by K. Carra of The Greens/The Queensland Greens. 16. My How-to-Vote brochure suggested preferences were being misrepresented and exploited as part of what seemed a somewhat elaborate and coordinated campaign to insure the vote of the incumbent LNP candidate Peter Dutton, against a possible close result with the Labor candidate, Ali France, a result which had been consistently suggested by the polls and the media in the months leading up to the 2019 election. 17. The misleading nature of the Armstrong How-to-Vote Brochures is perhaps clearer when placed side-by-side with my official How-to-Vote brochures: 5 __________________________________________________________________________________ 18. When you tally up all of the minor party and independent official how-to-vote brochures with the Armstrong How-to-Vote Brochures, gives an even clearer indication of the organised deception at play. 19. Having run a long campaign as a candidate in good faith for the best part of ten months, on top of a full-time job, it felt like a devastating blow to have to confront such organised deception of the voting public as what was represented in the misleading Armstrong How-to-Vote Brochures. 20. In my experience, the volunteers handing out the misleading Armstrong How-to-Vote Brochures were very effective and I saw many voters who did not take any other candidate’s How-to-Vote cards take the misleading Armstrong “Vote for Queensland” How-to-Vote Brochures in what appeared to be a reliance upon their accuracy. 21. The fact that so many voters were taking the Armstrong How-to-Vote Brochures indicated to me that the Armstrong How-to-Vote Brochures were effective because people lining up to cast their vote, or in the process of casting their vote, were taking them when offered by the “Vote for Queensland” volunteers. 22. The decision of myself and the Queensland Greens in selecting a particular order of candidates to preference was a deliberate and intentional act designed to honour both the system of preferential voting in the House of Representatives and the Australian system representative and responsible government. That is, the preference flow was ultimately targeted toward the enfranchisement of the voters of Dickson to make informed choices on the basis of accurate information about their voting preferences so as to accurately and genuinely manifest their voting choice on a ballot paper when casting their vote. Ultimately, that voting preference would affect the composition of the (members of the) House of Representatives of the subsequent 46th federal parliament consequent of their particular vote. In summary, the effect of 6 __________________________________________________________________________________ genuine and official How-to-Vote cards by candidates is to uphold and maintain an accountable system of preferential voting so as to maintain the integrity of Australia’s parliamentary democratic system. 23. I subsequently approached the young male “Vote for Queensland” volunteer and asked him who he was representing. He responded with words to the effect that he was free to do what he was doing, there was nothing to stop him doing it, he was performing the work voluntarily for one of his Dad’s friends and he was fifteen years old. His tone was defensive and aggressive. 24. I was subsequently approached by a journalist from Channel