The Federal Government passed legislation a month ago that bars prisoners from voting if they’re serving terms of three years or more. The restriction previously applied to terms of five years.
The rationale was that prisoners are not “fit and proper” to vote.
I find this rather extraordinary. Forget about the question of whether prisoners should be allowed to vote; just consider who is “fit and proper” to exercise democratic rights.
Football commentator Rex Hunt made an interesting observation last week. Reviewing the incident where St Kilda supporters stormed onto the ground after Fraser Gehrig’s 100th goal, he said: “The scary thing is that these morons will be voting in a couple of weeks”.
There are many people in our society who arguably aren’t fit and proper to vote.
I’ve always believed that voting should not be compulsory. Australia is one of the few countries in the world in which people are compelled to vote. That’s anti-democratic in itself.
My personal view is that the best form of government would be a meritocracy. People should be required to earn the right to vote through their education and contribution to society and the economy.
No country will ever go down this path though, because of the complexity in deciding rules of merit, and the discrimination factor.
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