7. JUDY TURNER (Deputy Leader—United Future) Link to this
to the Minister of Justice
What advice has she received about holding a citizens initiated referendum alongside a general election?
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Justice) Link to this
I have received advice from the Chief Electoral Officer that holding a citizens initiated referendum alongside a general election would cause significant problems. The referendum held at the same time as the 1999 general election caused voter confusion, congestion in polling places, and significantly delayed the preliminary results. His advice to me was to hold a postal ballot should a referendum be required. At this stage no petition has been certified as reaching the standard to trigger such a referendum.
Can we take from that answer that the Government is ruling out holding a citizens initiated referendum on election day later this year?
The Government has taken the advice of the Chief Electoral Officer not to hold a citizens initiated referendum alongside a general election. If there was a need for one—and we have no decision as to whether we need one—it would done by postal ballot.
Louisa WallThe Referenda (Postal Voting) Act 2000 was enacted to provide a simple and cost-effective alternative to holding referenda at the ballot box. This legislation was introduced by a National Government in October 1999, and it was dealt with in a bipartisan manner. The processes in the legislation are modelled on the successful referendum on compulsory superannuation, which was held by post in 1997. The experience of the 1997 referendum was that voters found the process simple and that there was a high rate of participation with an 80.3 percent turn-out.