Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Australian Electoral Commissioner Geoff Bloom on the upcoming Federal election

Transcript

NT Australian Electoral Commissioner Geoff Bloom on the upcoming Federal election · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But we know that a federal election is indeed looming.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: We don't know exactly what date that federal election is happening,
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: but you'd have to say that the Australian Electoral Commission
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: making sure that they're doing everything to ensure they're organized
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: whatever date that happens.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me in the.
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  Speaker 2: Studio right now is Jeff Bloom, the Australian Electoral Officer
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  Speaker 2: for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 3: Jeff, Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Lovely to have you in the studio. Jef.
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  Speaker 2: I would imagine that there's a lot of work that
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  Speaker 2: has to get underway for you guys to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that you're all organized when that federal election date is declared.
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  Speaker 3: Very busy, a very complex election coming up in these
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  Speaker 3: COVID times. We've got a great team back in the
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: office here and Owen, I think we've got nearly thirty
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: people on the floor right now planning many projects as
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  Speaker 3: part of the election delivery itself, including services to urban
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  Speaker 3: areas and also to remote communities as well. So everyone's
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: working extremely hard and we'll be ready when they're and
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: the elections announced.
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  Speaker 2: Now, how many people are on the electoral role in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: The enrollment rate at the moment of the territory sitting
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  Speaker 3: around eighty six percent, which is as high as it's
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  Speaker 3: been and that's around about two and a half percent
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  Speaker 3: increase on the twenty nineteen enrollment rates. So we're moving forward.
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  Speaker 3: It is slow and there's still many people are not
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  Speaker 3: on the role, so we'd encourage people.
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  Speaker 1: To get enrolled.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is such a timely reminded to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that you do get on the electoral role. Make sure
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  Speaker 2: you vote. I know that sometimes people, you know, go, oh,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: why should I vote? Does my vote really matter? But
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  Speaker 2: in a place like the Northern Territory, it absolutely matters.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes we have situations where you know, a seat is
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  Speaker 2: one or lost by under twenty votes.
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  Speaker 3: Look, that's true, and it is important that people do
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: cast their vote. A close seat is what we call that.
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  Speaker 3: Anything under one hundred votes we call a close seat.
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  Speaker 3: And we don't know, we haven't had a close seat
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  Speaker 3: in recent elections, but we could absolutely have one this
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  Speaker 3: time around. So it's important that everyone gets out there
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  Speaker 3: and castly vote for this event.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Now, in terms of the voter turnout in twenty nineteen,
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  Speaker 2: did we get a high voter turnout.
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  Speaker 3: Across the territory around seventy eight percent, so it's not
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  Speaker 3: as hoigh as we would have liked. A little bit
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  Speaker 3: higher in the Division of Solomon so that's Darwin and Palmerston,
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  Speaker 3: and a little bit lower in the Division of Lingi
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  Speaker 3: area which includes many of those remote communities seventy eight percent.
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  Speaker 3: We'd be hoping for a higher turnout. We always do
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  Speaker 3: and we do everything we can to make sure people
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  Speaker 3: understand how they can vote, the different voting options and
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  Speaker 3: then turn up to vote during that period.
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  Speaker 2: And it's incredibly important as well in our remote communities
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  Speaker 2: that people that live remotely turn up to vote as well.
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  Speaker 2: I know that things are certainly a little bit more
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  Speaker 2: difficult at the moment with COVID about and even this
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: morning we know that the federal government has declared a
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: biosecurity zone across the Northern Territory or the Northern, Central
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  Speaker 2: and Teewee Land councils. How do things like this impact
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  Speaker 2: the Australian Electoral Commission when it comes to, you know,
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  Speaker 2: planning for an election of making sure that people do vote.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: It is difficult, there's no doubt about it. But We've
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  Speaker 3: been working on this for many months now, understanding that
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  Speaker 3: the lockouts and now I think we've got lock ins occurring,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: they all seem to be a little bit different. But
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  Speaker 3: for us, the bottom line is that the face to
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: face service that we normally deliver remote area mobile pilling
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  Speaker 3: right across the Northern Territory, it will be difficult for
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  Speaker 3: the election that's held from the short term in March
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: or in May, it'll be extremely difficult.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got a couple.
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  Speaker 3: Of delivery models. So we've got a backup model if
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  Speaker 3: you like, to the face to face service, and depending
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  Speaker 3: on which communities we can access and the ones we can't,
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  Speaker 3: we can have a bit of a mixed approach to that.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of planning, a lot of effort gone into that,
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  Speaker 3: and that'll continue.
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  Speaker 2: So what is the backup model? We are we looking
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  Speaker 2: to do things online or is are we not there?
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  Speaker 1: Yes?
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  Speaker 3: No, not. We know we're not online at the stage,
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  Speaker 3: they're still a way off, but that the backup model
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  Speaker 3: involves hiring community people who are in situ and can
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: deliver the service. So if we're not able to put
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  Speaker 3: a team in there, we'll have someone in the community
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  Speaker 3: itself and we will deliver materials to the edge of
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  Speaker 3: the community effectively, and then that our person or people
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  Speaker 3: in community will take charge of those and deliver a service.
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  Speaker 3: It's effectively what we call a declaration vote model, where
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  Speaker 3: people will place their ballot papers in a declaration envelope
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  Speaker 3: and we'll bring them back to the office and process.
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  Speaker 2: And is there some additional work happening for those remote
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  Speaker 2: communities to ensure that there is high vot to turn
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  Speaker 2: out as well.
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  Speaker 3: The communications is always challenging, but we have a number
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  Speaker 3: of communication channels that we use. We've got a number
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: of new partnerships that we're forming now through what got
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  Speaker 3: our Indigenous Electoral Participation program. We've got Somemous in place.
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  Speaker 3: We've got people that are going to send those communication
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  Speaker 3: messages through the communities. We use social media like we
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  Speaker 3: haven't done in previous events, Facebook for example. So lots
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  Speaker 3: of opportunities there for us, and we're working very hard
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  Speaker 3: on those messages now.
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  Speaker 2: Before I let you go on, the question that some
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: people will be wondering is if they don't vote, are
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: they going to get fined?
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  Speaker 3: Well, voting is compulsory, so it's compulsory to be on
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  Speaker 3: the roll and to vote. So we just encourage people
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  Speaker 3: to get out there and vote and take the opportunity
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  Speaker 3: to either postal vote, early vote or voting on the day.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Jeff Bloom, the Australian electoral officer for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: I really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: for coming in. And I think that it's really important
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  Speaker 2: that everybody out there listening knows that obviously a federal
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: election is looming. We've got to make sure that we're
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: on the electoral roll and make sure that we do
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  Speaker 2: well cast our democratic right and get out there and vote.
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  Speaker 3: That's the one. Please enroll and vote when the opportunity arises.
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  Speaker 1: Good on you, Jeff, Thanks so much for your time
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks very much,