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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-13 Daily Xml
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Question Time

FROME BY-ELECTION

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:05): My question is to you, Mr Speaker. Is 17 January the first date at which a by-election for Frome could be held?

The Hon. K.O. Foley interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my right will come to order.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: Sookie sookie la la.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Attorney is warned.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: The 17 January by-election date will leave the people of Frome unrepresented in the parliament for almost nine weeks. The opposition understands that the State Electoral Commission could have supported a by-election on 13 December.

The SPEAKER (14:06): I thank the leader for his question. Any election date over the coming period presents enormous challenges and difficulties, with the time immediately before Christmas and the time over January. It is a judgment call on my part, in consultation with the Electoral Commissioner. While, yes, it was technically feasible for the date of 13 December, it was my judgment that that did not provide enough time, and that is a decision for which I take full responsibility. The weeks immediately after 20 December presented problems for the Electoral Commission, obviously being just before Christmas—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Speaker is on his feet: I expect silence. It also presented problems in terms of the receipt of postal ballots in the time after polling day, with the public holidays and no receipt of letters; and I considered the couple of weeks immediately at the beginning of January not possible because of their being over the holiday period. I agree that 17 January is not an ideal date but, in consultation with the Electoral Commissioner, I made the judgment call that it was the 'least worst' day that was available.

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