Small Business Australia has criticised the Victorian government for shortening the voter registration cut-off date for its October council elections to August 7. The decision will cause hundreds of thousands of non-resident small-business and property owners to lose their right to vote.
“First, the Victorian government kicked business and property owners off the roll. Now, they have passed legislation in the stealth of night to bring forward the deadline for voter registration to August 7,” said Bill Lang, Executive Director of Small Business Australia.
“It would seem that the Victorian government is intent on ensuring as few business and property owners as possible vote in the upcoming council elections.”
According to Small Business Australia, the Victorian government’s changes to council electoral rolls require non-resident business and property owners to register directly with their council to vote. The organisation said that many eligible voters will be left without a say in communities that they are heavily invested in because of the decision.
Small Business Australia has been tracking council management of their business and property owner electoral rolls for months. Lang reported that “only a handful of councils seem to be in control of their roll”.
Small Business Australia states that they raised concerns around voting accessibility months ago. Despite this, nothing has changed.
“The Victorian government made it only harder for people to secure their democratic right to vote, whilst councils such as Merri-Bek and Yarra, who have plenty of time on their hands to pass motions around international conflicts, nuclear weapons and name changes, have no time to ensure that all ratepayers within their municipality have their right to vote protected,” he stated.
Lang warned that it will now be up to business and property owners to protect their vote.
“Leaving councils with free reign and no threat at the ballot box from anti-business practices will bring nothing but pain to local communities and small business families, which is why we are urging all property and business owners to register to vote with their local council,” Lang concluded.
