Independent Noosa MP Sandy Bolton has continued to advocate for an end to information harvesting practices by Members of Parliament (MPs) and political parties.
This includes from postal vote applications, with the latest effort moving a Private Member’s Motion (PMM) in Parliament last week.
“We live in a world where trust is more important than ever,“ Sandy said.
“That trust includes Queenslanders having knowledge of how their private information is used and where it goes.
“Since 2021 I have raised the issue of postal vote application (PVA) forms being sent out to voters who unknowingly were utilising the reply-paid envelope in the belief the application for their postal vote was going directly to the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ).
“However, this is often not the case, with these applications going to political party headquarters or MP offices before the information is forwarded to the ECQ.”
Currently this is a legal practice, however, as the Independent MP said in Parliament, that does not make it right.
The information privacy principles in the Queensland Information Privacy Act state that when collecting information, you must tell the individual what the information is going to be used for before or at the point of collection.
The fact that, due to limitations in this privacy act, the principle does not legally apply in this case does not change that a person’s privacy is being breached by collecting their personal information in this manner. Australia is one of the only advanced democracies where parties are completely exempt from privacy legislation, which must be addressed.
“With an increasing number of Queenslanders becoming disengaged from elections and politics, it is time to end practices that hoodwink, deliberately or not, and reinstate integrity and credibility into our elections and processes. Privacy of information is an excellent start,” Ms Bolton said.
“It was incorrectly reported last week that both the government and opposition supported this motion for greater transparency, however, they did not, with only the crossbench MPs voting to end these deceptions.”
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters report ‘Conduct of the 2022 federal election and other matters’ recommended ‘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.
“The Commonwealth parliament is to be applauded by putting forward amendments to end this at a federal level and Queensland needs to follow suit. Asking for a commitment from both sides of chamber to end this practice by amending the Queensland Electoral Act 1992 to ensure postal vote applications posted to voters are returned directly to the ECQ should have been wholeheartedly supported,” Ms Bolton said.
“However this motion was disappointingly voted down by the two major parties, and we all need to ask, why? There can be no valid reason to breach the privacy of Queenslanders, and none were given.”
More information and updates on many State Government matters Ms Bolton is working on are available on Noosa 360 at SandyBolton.com/Noosa360 To receive information straight to your email inbox, subscribe to the monthly newsletter via SandyBolton.com/Newsletters
CORRECTION: In our page 10 article, ’No threat of closing down’, last week we published that “both major parties voted to end this practice [of data harvesting]“. This should have read, “both major parties voted against ending this practice“. We apologise for the error.
