STATE ELECTORAL OFFICE

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:58): Will the Attorney-General inform the house about the progress made to increase the proportion of eligible South Australians aged 18 to 19 years enrolled to vote in order to better the Australian average by 2014?

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:59): The South Australian Strategic Plan has set the Rann government specific objectives. This objective is to increase the proportion of eligible young South Australians aged between 18 and 19 enrolled to vote to better than the Australian average by 2014. I know that there will be long faces on the other side, because under the Howard government the Liberal Party did all it could to disenfranchise young South Australian people and people who moved home.

I am pleased to report that the State Electoral Office has pursued this objective with vigour. Things have been done—contrary to the period of Liberal rule—to encourage young people to enrol to vote. These activities include sending a birthday card and an enrolment form to 17 and 18 year olds listed on the database of the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia. Current returns indicate a 22 per cent response after only a few mailings. Not bad for Generation Y. An enrolment and information booth was established at the Royal Adelaide Show, where 1,460 enrolment forms were completed. We have discussed with Services SA the utilisation of its service outlets to target youth sitting for their driving licence and additional services in the lead-up to the 2010 election. But what we do know is that the opposition wants as few people in that age bracket to enrol as possible.

The office is making an interactive website module as an online outreach program to identify with youth. The module will also be used in the electoral education centre to focus on youth enrolment. A further initiative will be the provision of an SMS contact number for youth to request an enrolment form in the lead-up to the next election. We are trying to identify effective communication strategies and tools to encourage and motivate youth to enrol to vote. Initiatives will be market tested for use in the next major advertising campaign.

The Office for Youth has been approached to include an electoral awareness enrolment question in its pilot youth consultations being held around the country. The forums are followed up with surveys sent to schools in the region. About 200 youth participated in the first pilot and survey feedback will be used to heighten electoral awareness and enrolment strategies.