Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I'm a mum, I'm a grandma and I've worked as a polling official for the last 20 years.
I'm a 36 year old Aboriginal man.
I'm a disability pensioner.
I had 11 uncles that served this country, as well as my father. We all signed up to
fight for democracy.
The liberal national party government here in Queensland has introduced a bill that will
mean, for the first time in Australian history, voters will not be able to cast a vote unless
they bring voter ID. What it means is that a lot of Queenslanders might not be able to
vote.
1 in 10 Indigenous Australians have never held a birth certificate. And 2 out of 3 do
not possess a current drivers license. It's going to discourage them from voting.
The most important thing is to keep voting streamlined and simple.
I grew up in the country and it's hard enough to get people actually to the polling booth
let alone making it any harder.
It's likely these laws will affect elderly voters as well. I don't think we need to put
that pressure on people who have been voting for their whole lives.
They claim they're introducing these laws to stop voter impersonation but the reality
actually is that we don't have a problem in the state or in the country.
After the last state election, only 1 person was referred to the police for voting more
than once.
Queensland has a long history of governments skewing the electoral system for their own
advantage and when any government of any sort does it, I think we, as Queenslanders, have
to really wonder about their motivations.
We don't want to return to the dark old days of Queensland's corruption.
When Governments start to skew electoral systems, corruption follows and it can take decades
for the damage to be undone.
The decisions that politicians make effect us all and were the ones who are going to
have to live with them in the long run.
So I, I, say that we should make a noise about it.
Tell your family and tell your friends
Don't just stand down and cry in the hanky, get up, get off your freckle and do something.