High Court judgment bitchslaps Abbott

In 2006 an arrogant John Winston Howard and an increasingly despotic Coalition Government passed legislation limiting an Australian citizen's right to vote by closing the Commonwealth electoral roll on the same day election writs were issued.

This was Tony Abbott (then a Howard Goverment minister and Leader of the House) back in 2006 on the subject:
Another of the accusations hurled at us by the Leader of the Opposition was the ludicrous suggestion that we are in some way stripping young people of their right to vote.

In June 2010 the Rudd-Gillard Government attempted to introduce legislation which would rollback sections of electoral law to a pre-Howard era when citizens' rights were intact.

In that same June Tony Abbott's Coalition voted against the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Close of Rolls and Other Measures) Bill 2010 in the Lower House and seems to have sent the bill to limbo in the Upper House.

This is what Liberal MP and Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey had to say concerning the Labor Government's 2010 bill:

The amendments in this bill that relate to the closing of rolls seven days after the writs are issued will be opposed by the coalition. The previous government, in line with longstanding policy, moved to protect the integrity of the roll and prevent fraudulent enrolments by reducing the time period between the calling of an election and the closing of rolls. The closure of the rolls seven days after the issue of a writ is a significant threat to the integrity of the electoral roll.

This is what Liberal MP Andrew Robb later parroted:
On the close of rolls, the fundamental point is this: the closure of the rolls seven days after the issue of a writ is a significant threat to the integrity of the electoral roll. The previous coalition government, in line with longstanding policy, moved to protect the integrity of the roll and prevent fraudulent enrolments by reducing the time period between the calling of an election and the close of the rolls.

While Liberal MP Cory Bernardi chimed in with:
I consider the closure of the rolls seven days after the issue of a writ to be a threat to the very integrity of the electoral roll.

However, many ordinary Australians did not agree with that neo-con bloc and today the GetUp! challenge of those Howard electoral law amendments was successful and Abbott received the considered rebuff he deserved from the full bench of the High Court.

Media Release - Manager, Public Information, High Court of Australia:

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

6 August 2010

ROWE & ANOR v ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER & ANOR

On 26 July 2010, proceedings were commenced in the Melbourne Registry of the Court seeking a declaration that certain provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) effecting cut-off dates for consideration of applications for enrolment and transfers of enrolment as an elector are invalid. One of those provisions, s 102(4), prevents the Electoral Commissioner from considering claims for enrolment lodged after 8 pm on the date of the issue of writs for an election for the House of Representatives or the Senate until after the close of polling. Another provision, s 102( 4AA), prevents consideration of claims for transfer of enrolment from one divisional roll to another from 8 pm on the date of the close of the rolls for an election until after the close of polling. A third provision, s 155, provides that the rolls close on the third working day after the date of the writs.

The challenged provisions had been introduced into the Commonwealth Electoral Act by the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006 (Cth) ("the Amendment Act").

The application for the declaration and for writs of mandamus was referred to the Full Court by Justice Hayne on 29 July 2010 and argument on the application was heard by the Full Court on 4 and 5 August 2010. The application was amended at the hearing so that the declaration sought related to the validity of some other provisions of the Amendment Act.

Today the Court by majority declared that provisions of the Amendment Act which introduced the challenged provisions into the Commonwealth Electoral Act are invalid. The declaration also covered certain consequential amendments made by the Amendment Act including other provisions effecting cut-off dates relating to the enrolment of persons living outside Australia (s 94A(4)(a» and itinerant electors (s 96(4», and the eligibility of spouses, de facto partners or children of eligible overseas electors for enrolment (s 95(4».

The orders of the Court were:

1. Declare that Items 20, 24, 28, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 52 of Sched 1 to the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006 (Cth) are invalid.

2. The second defendant to pay the plaintiffs' costs of the Further Amended Application for an Order to Show Cause.

The Court will publish its reasons for decision at a later date.

• This statement is not intended to be a substitute for the reasons of the High Court or to be used in any later consideration of the Court's reasons.

* Bitchslap: To slap someone (particularly but not necessarily female) who is being rude or nasty, perhaps screaming a lot (i.e., being a bitch). The idea is to get them to calm down and behave. It doesn't necessarily mean you really hit the person; there is such a thing as a verbal bitchslap OR The literal and/or metaphoric slapping or whacking someone in order to knock some sense into them.