Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, as we know, the race to the local government
election it gets into full swing today with early voting
opening this morning. Joining me on the line is the
Northern Territory's electoral Commissioner, Kirstin Kelly. Good morning to your commissioner.
Let's try that again. I'm not too sure what we've
done wrong there, and we'll give it another crack one
(00:21):
moment for me. I believe I've got the commissioner on
the line now, Good morning, Kursten, can you hear me? Okay,
we don't seem to. I'm not too sure what's going
on there, so we'll see if we can get things
sorted out and go from there.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hopefully I've got to Now I'll try one last time.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Actually, no, we're gonna have to get her back on
the line unfortunately, so we'll give that a crack again
in a moment. Just having some tech issues in here
early this morning, so hopefully I'm able to get the
commissioner back online sooner rather than later, because as I said,
we know that early voting has indeed opened. Sounds like
it's not without a couple of hiccups by the sound
(01:00):
of things. Earlier this morning, there was a bit of
an issue in terms of the Electoral commission staff waiting
to get things We're waiting to get things up and running.
So we'll see if we can find out some further
detail throughout this morning. But I believe I've got the
Electoral Commissioner, Kirsten Kelly on the line now, Good morning
to you, Commissioner.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sorry about that, I was having some tech issues.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Now we know that early voting has opened this morning.
How are things going from your perspective? We had heard
there might have been a few issues a little earlier
on at the entertainment center, people waiting outside to vote.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I'm not aware of that, but I can find out
more details about that. But early voting has started at
eight o'clock this morning right across the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
So whereabouts can you vote?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
To those listening this morning, sort of around Darwin, Palmerston
and out in.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
The rural area.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely so. If you are in Darwin, the Darwen
Entertainment Center is nearly voting center, as is the Casarina Library.
If you're at Palmerston, the Palmston Recreational Center is your
early voting center. If you're in Dawn, rural cooling. A
Central Shopping Center is your early voting center?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Actually, what about Catherine.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I'm assuming that they've got somewhere where they can vote
this morning to.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, they do, so Catherine Shopping Center is the early
voting center. So Catherine Central Shopping Center is the early
voting center for Catherine residents.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And I understand that the Electoral Commission is going to
publish those numbers in terms of the turnout how many
people turn out to vote each day, not the numbers
in terms of who's voting for who.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But is that usual practice?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, it is usual practice. So when people go and
vote to voting center, they'll see that they have their
name marked off electronically. It doesn't actually say anything about
how a person votes. That's totally up to the person
when they go into the voting screen, but it just
lets us know that who's voted. So every day we
will publish those statistics by votes by voting center, and
(02:57):
they're available on the Anti Electoral Commission website as a
closed of voting today. That data will be available from
tomorrow and that's usual practice for electoral commissions, and we
did that for the last local governm elections in twenty
twenty one and the Charactery election last year.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Now, Commissioner, I've had a couple of candidates getting contact
with me this morning saying that the City of Darwin
wasn't allowing their workers, the candidates or their workers, I
should say, to hand out how to vote cards on
their property at Casharina Library or the Darwin Entertainment Center,
but they'd said Meanwhile, the City of Darwin's website states
that how to vote cards will be made available on
(03:32):
desks within the early voting centers.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
What's the goal?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Are people allowed to hand out their how to vote
the outside of the entertainment center in Casarina.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So in outside, there's ten meters from the entry to
the voting center. It's a prohibition zone for campaigning and
that's under the local government electoral regulations. Outside of that,
the landowners sometimes proposes additional restrictions on that. So what's
happened in the City of Darwin has said that for
the voting period that campaigning outside on council land is
(04:05):
not permitted. But what they will do is provide a
table to allow City of Darwin candidates to have their
how to votes available for voters to pursue on their
way into the voting center.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, right, and do you know if they've done that
this morning.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
My understanding is is that should be in train. I
understand that when voting open that they may not have
been set up, but I've not spoken to City of
Darwin yet, but i expect that would all be in
train now.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yep, all right, Now, Commissioner, can I ask are people
going to be fined if they don't vote at the
council elections?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So at the end of the election we'll look to
see the participation and then will make a decision as
to whether non voters will be issued. We did issue
non voter fines for the territory election last year, and
what we do is look at the actual data at
the end of the election and make a decision after that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
We've also had a lot of people questioning the criteria
around putting your hand up to run. What is the criteria?
Do people have to pay, you know, like, do they
have to pay a fee to run? Are they expected
to get a certain number of votes? What's the situation?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
So in the Northern Territory, there's no nomination fee for
local government elections, so to be eligible stand as a candidate,
you have to be an Australian citizen eighteen years or older,
enrolled in to vote in the local government area that
you're intending to nominate for, and reside in that local
government area. You also need to meet criterion and sign
a declaration regarding debts due to council bankruptcy and things
(05:34):
like that as part of the nomination. So at this
stage there's no nomination fee for the Northern Territory Local
Government Act.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah right, I wonder if that is.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I know it's not up to you to determine, but
I wonder if that is something that needs to be
considered at some point.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So in other jurisdictions there are nomination fees for local
government counselor and or mayor elections and they range from
one hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars and some
jurisdictions all so then allow a full refund, you know,
for example, if four percent of the first preferences are
achieved or someone's elected. So similar to the territory election
(06:08):
where there is a five hundred dollars candidate nomination fee,
so it is in other councils across Australia there are
those nomination fees. And again, if there's a balance there
between wanting to encourage people to participate as candidates without
that financial burden where you know there may not be
party backing to help support that financially.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, right, well definitely, I'm sure our listeners will have
opinions on that, so I'll talk more about that throughout
this morning. There has also been some quite terrible online trolling,
some nasty commentary around different candidates. There's also been some
telling people who to preference. What is the Northern Territory
Electoral Commission's scope to investigate when it comes to that
(06:48):
kind of behavior.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
So the position in the Northern Territory is that there's
no truth in advertising or political advertising laws. But what
the Northern Territory Electoral Commission will do is is if
there's inaccurate or misinformation about the electoral process, will call
that out and we'll mark that up on our website
and call that out. With regards to inappropriate comments against Canadids,
(07:10):
we certainly strongly encourage that not be the case. That
people actually campaign fairly during the election period, and if
someone has concerns to please to raise it, we'll raise
it in the first instance, and we conceive there's something
that can be done and what options might be available,
but all campaigning material and needs to be authorized, and
(07:33):
that helps us identify who is making statements and able
for us to make contact with them. So campaign advertising
material must be authorized.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I mean, is it becoming quite difficult to manage in
some ways in the sense that obviously the local media,
well whether you're talking state territory, nationally, the media have
certain guidelines and rules that we have to follow, but
there's really nothing much stopping people from online, you know,
really saying whatever they like.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
And I think that's where the approach that a lot
of electoral commissions take, particularly where there's no truth in
political advertising laws in places, is empowering electors or people
looking at that information to determine whether it's factually correct,
what's the source of the information, is it's reliable, and
empowering people who are receiving that to question what they're
(08:25):
seeing and why, what the motive might be of the
person making such statements. And that's really important, and we
do have resources on the Anti Electoral Commission website to
support that checking facts and what's reliable information.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Commissioner there's also been quite a bit of vandalism damage
to signs. Is that something that the Northern Territory Electoral
Commission's going to be investigating.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Again if I'm certainly happy to receive that information. But
our advice is if you're seeing someone vandalize and then
that's a matter to raise through one three, one four
four with the police. Of observing someone interfering with campaign material,
we certainly encourage people just to leave them. They do
cost a lot of money to candidates to purchase core
flutes and it is an important part of the election
(09:08):
process to raise awareness and raise awareness of candidates who
are contesting the election. So certainly encourage people to not
interfere with campaign material. And if you do see something,
please let us know. We'll report it to the police.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Someone's just message through asking if it's compulsory to vote.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
It is, isn't it in the Northern Territory. Yes, it
is in all levels of government, So local government, territory government,
and federal government is compulsory to vote.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Before I let you go, I just want to ask you,
in terms of how many people you're expecting to turn
up to vote today, any ideas.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
No, not sure. The usually first day of early voting
is quite popular, so we'll have those statistics available tomorrow.
But hopefully it's a strong turnout. And we've got eleven
days of early voting, so plenty of opportunity across the territory.
If you're required to vote, Poleae participate before election day
on the twenty third, so we've even got voting next
today on the sixteenth of August available as well. Details
(10:04):
of all the voting center options are on the Anti
Electric Commission website or you can call us and one
of our service center stuff can help direct you to
your closest voting.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Center Commission or another quick one.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Doug Barton has called through to ask why they know
how to vote cards being allowed in voting centers in
koler Linga.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
So the voting center of the shopping center there, so
outside the shopping center people are able to campaign, and
the voting center has requested through the shopping center has
requested that there'll be no campaigning inside in the shopping center,
but candidates are welcome to hand out their how to
vote cards outside the cooling right now.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
So that's a request from the shopping center.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
That's correct, So In previous years during COVID, the Anti
Electoral Commission provided displays for people to put their how
to vote cards in outside the entrance to voting center.
That was communicated to candidates that we wouldn't be providing
that this year, and as I mentioned, some of the
councils Palmerston and Darwin have chosen to allow a table
(11:04):
at their voting centers for that information to be displayed
and they'll be managing that through the early voting period well.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Northern Territory Electoral Commissioner, Kirsten Kelly, really appreciate your time
this morning. No doubt I'll talk to you again over
the coming days.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Thanks Katie anytime.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Thank you,
Now, as we know, the race to the local government
election it gets into full swing today with early voting
opening this morning. Joining me on the line is the
Northern Territory's electoral Commissioner, Kirstin Kelly. Good morning to your commissioner.
Let's try that again. I'm not too sure what we've
done wrong there, and we'll give it another crack one
(00:21):
moment for me. I believe I've got the commissioner on
the line now, Good morning, Kursten, can you hear me? Okay,
we don't seem to. I'm not too sure what's going
on there, so we'll see if we can get things
sorted out and go from there.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hopefully I've got to Now I'll try one last time.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Actually, no, we're gonna have to get her back on
the line unfortunately, so we'll give that a crack again
in a moment. Just having some tech issues in here
early this morning, so hopefully I'm able to get the
commissioner back online sooner rather than later, because as I said,
we know that early voting has indeed opened. Sounds like
it's not without a couple of hiccups by the sound
(01:00):
of things. Earlier this morning, there was a bit of
an issue in terms of the Electoral commission staff waiting
to get things We're waiting to get things up and running.
So we'll see if we can find out some further
detail throughout this morning. But I believe I've got the
Electoral Commissioner, Kirsten Kelly on the line now, Good morning
to you, Commissioner.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Good morning Katie.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sorry about that, I was having some tech issues.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Now we know that early voting has opened this morning.
How are things going from your perspective? We had heard
there might have been a few issues a little earlier
on at the entertainment center, people waiting outside to vote.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I'm not aware of that, but I can find out
more details about that. But early voting has started at
eight o'clock this morning right across the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
So whereabouts can you vote?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
To those listening this morning, sort of around Darwin, Palmerston
and out in.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
The rural area.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely so. If you are in Darwin, the Darwen
Entertainment Center is nearly voting center, as is the Casarina Library.
If you're at Palmerston, the Palmston Recreational Center is your
early voting center. If you're in Dawn, rural cooling. A
Central Shopping Center is your early voting center?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Actually, what about Catherine.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I'm assuming that they've got somewhere where they can vote
this morning to.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, they do, so Catherine Shopping Center is the early
voting center. So Catherine Central Shopping Center is the early
voting center for Catherine residents.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And I understand that the Electoral Commission is going to
publish those numbers in terms of the turnout how many
people turn out to vote each day, not the numbers
in terms of who's voting for who.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But is that usual practice?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, it is usual practice. So when people go and
vote to voting center, they'll see that they have their
name marked off electronically. It doesn't actually say anything about
how a person votes. That's totally up to the person
when they go into the voting screen, but it just
lets us know that who's voted. So every day we
will publish those statistics by votes by voting center, and
(02:57):
they're available on the Anti Electoral Commission website as a
closed of voting today. That data will be available from
tomorrow and that's usual practice for electoral commissions, and we
did that for the last local governm elections in twenty
twenty one and the Charactery election last year.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Now, Commissioner, I've had a couple of candidates getting contact
with me this morning saying that the City of Darwin
wasn't allowing their workers, the candidates or their workers, I
should say, to hand out how to vote cards on
their property at Casharina Library or the Darwin Entertainment Center,
but they'd said Meanwhile, the City of Darwin's website states
that how to vote cards will be made available on
(03:32):
desks within the early voting centers.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
What's the goal?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Are people allowed to hand out their how to vote
the outside of the entertainment center in Casarina.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So in outside, there's ten meters from the entry to
the voting center. It's a prohibition zone for campaigning and
that's under the local government electoral regulations. Outside of that,
the landowners sometimes proposes additional restrictions on that. So what's
happened in the City of Darwin has said that for
the voting period that campaigning outside on council land is
(04:05):
not permitted. But what they will do is provide a
table to allow City of Darwin candidates to have their
how to votes available for voters to pursue on their
way into the voting center.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, right, and do you know if they've done that
this morning.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
My understanding is is that should be in train. I
understand that when voting open that they may not have
been set up, but I've not spoken to City of
Darwin yet, but i expect that would all be in
train now.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yep, all right, Now, Commissioner, can I ask are people
going to be fined if they don't vote at the
council elections?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So at the end of the election we'll look to
see the participation and then will make a decision as
to whether non voters will be issued. We did issue
non voter fines for the territory election last year, and
what we do is look at the actual data at
the end of the election and make a decision after that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
We've also had a lot of people questioning the criteria
around putting your hand up to run. What is the criteria?
Do people have to pay, you know, like, do they
have to pay a fee to run? Are they expected
to get a certain number of votes? What's the situation?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
So in the Northern Territory, there's no nomination fee for
local government elections, so to be eligible stand as a candidate,
you have to be an Australian citizen eighteen years or older,
enrolled in to vote in the local government area that
you're intending to nominate for, and reside in that local
government area. You also need to meet criterion and sign
a declaration regarding debts due to council bankruptcy and things
(05:34):
like that as part of the nomination. So at this
stage there's no nomination fee for the Northern Territory Local
Government Act.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah right, I wonder if that is.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I know it's not up to you to determine, but
I wonder if that is something that needs to be
considered at some point.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So in other jurisdictions there are nomination fees for local
government counselor and or mayor elections and they range from
one hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars and some
jurisdictions all so then allow a full refund, you know,
for example, if four percent of the first preferences are
achieved or someone's elected. So similar to the territory election
(06:08):
where there is a five hundred dollars candidate nomination fee,
so it is in other councils across Australia there are
those nomination fees. And again, if there's a balance there
between wanting to encourage people to participate as candidates without
that financial burden where you know there may not be
party backing to help support that financially.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, right, well definitely, I'm sure our listeners will have
opinions on that, so I'll talk more about that throughout
this morning. There has also been some quite terrible online trolling,
some nasty commentary around different candidates. There's also been some
telling people who to preference. What is the Northern Territory
Electoral Commission's scope to investigate when it comes to that
(06:48):
kind of behavior.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
So the position in the Northern Territory is that there's
no truth in advertising or political advertising laws. But what
the Northern Territory Electoral Commission will do is is if
there's inaccurate or misinformation about the electoral process, will call
that out and we'll mark that up on our website
and call that out. With regards to inappropriate comments against Canadids,
(07:10):
we certainly strongly encourage that not be the case. That
people actually campaign fairly during the election period, and if
someone has concerns to please to raise it, we'll raise
it in the first instance, and we conceive there's something
that can be done and what options might be available,
but all campaigning material and needs to be authorized, and
(07:33):
that helps us identify who is making statements and able
for us to make contact with them. So campaign advertising
material must be authorized.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I mean, is it becoming quite difficult to manage in
some ways in the sense that obviously the local media,
well whether you're talking state territory, nationally, the media have
certain guidelines and rules that we have to follow, but
there's really nothing much stopping people from online, you know,
really saying whatever they like.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
And I think that's where the approach that a lot
of electoral commissions take, particularly where there's no truth in
political advertising laws in places, is empowering electors or people
looking at that information to determine whether it's factually correct,
what's the source of the information, is it's reliable, and
empowering people who are receiving that to question what they're
(08:25):
seeing and why, what the motive might be of the
person making such statements. And that's really important, and we
do have resources on the Anti Electoral Commission website to
support that checking facts and what's reliable information.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Commissioner there's also been quite a bit of vandalism damage
to signs. Is that something that the Northern Territory Electoral
Commission's going to be investigating.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Again if I'm certainly happy to receive that information. But
our advice is if you're seeing someone vandalize and then
that's a matter to raise through one three, one four
four with the police. Of observing someone interfering with campaign material,
we certainly encourage people just to leave them. They do
cost a lot of money to candidates to purchase core
flutes and it is an important part of the election
(09:08):
process to raise awareness and raise awareness of candidates who
are contesting the election. So certainly encourage people to not
interfere with campaign material. And if you do see something,
please let us know. We'll report it to the police.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Someone's just message through asking if it's compulsory to vote.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
It is, isn't it in the Northern Territory. Yes, it
is in all levels of government, So local government, territory government,
and federal government is compulsory to vote.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Commissioner.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Before I let you go, I just want to ask you,
in terms of how many people you're expecting to turn
up to vote today, any ideas.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
No, not sure. The usually first day of early voting
is quite popular, so we'll have those statistics available tomorrow.
But hopefully it's a strong turnout. And we've got eleven
days of early voting, so plenty of opportunity across the territory.
If you're required to vote, Poleae participate before election day
on the twenty third, so we've even got voting next
today on the sixteenth of August available as well. Details
(10:04):
of all the voting center options are on the Anti
Electric Commission website or you can call us and one
of our service center stuff can help direct you to
your closest voting.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Center Commission or another quick one.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Doug Barton has called through to ask why they know
how to vote cards being allowed in voting centers in
koler Linga.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
So the voting center of the shopping center there, so
outside the shopping center people are able to campaign, and
the voting center has requested through the shopping center has
requested that there'll be no campaigning inside in the shopping center,
but candidates are welcome to hand out their how to
vote cards outside the cooling right now.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
So that's a request from the shopping center.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
That's correct, So In previous years during COVID, the Anti
Electoral Commission provided displays for people to put their how
to vote cards in outside the entrance to voting center.
That was communicated to candidates that we wouldn't be providing
that this year, and as I mentioned, some of the
councils Palmerston and Darwin have chosen to allow a table
(11:04):
at their voting centers for that information to be displayed
and they'll be managing that through the early voting period well.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Northern Territory Electoral Commissioner, Kirsten Kelly, really appreciate your time
this morning. No doubt I'll talk to you again over
the coming days.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Thanks Katie anytime.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Thank you,
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