Guide 3 to NSW State Archives relating to Responsible Government - OCR - Flipbook - Page 228
A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Responsible Government
Premier's Department
Letters received
CGS 12060
File 58/442; Constitution (Legislative Council Elections)
Amendment Bill, 1945-61
CGS 12060,
File 58/442 in
[12/8552]
Mainly comprises papers relating to the provision of facilities to
assist blind or incapacitated Members in casting their votes at
Legislative Council elections, including passing the necessary
legislative amendments.
Prior to the 1944 State elections the Parliamentary Electorates and
Elections Act was amended, in a new Section 108 (1), to allow
someone to assist an elector with impaired sight or physical
incapacitation in voting. Subsequently, approval was given at the
Cabinet meeting of 1 May 1945 for the preparation of a Bill to
amend the Constitution (Legislative Council Elections) Act to allow
for similar provisions for blind or incapacitated Members of
Parliament.
Includes correspondence; representations from Members of
Parliament; Cabinet minutes; drafts of the Constitution
(Legislative Council Elections) Amendment Act, 1945; comments
on the constitutional implications of the proposed amendment
(that "legislation of the character proposed cannot validly be
assented to by His Majesty unless at a referendum held for the
purpose a majority of the electors approve the Bill in accordance
with Section 7A of the Constitution Act, 1902, as amended");
extracts from Hansard; other amendments relating to the readings
of the Writs; copy of the draft Bill; copy of the Constitution
(Legislative Council Elections) Amendment Bill, 1960; and the
draft first and second reading speeches for the Bill.
File 61/534: Elections and polling facilities, 1953-58
Postal voting had been abolished by the McGirr Government (in
the 1949 amendment to the Parliamentary Electorates and
Elections Act), except for people who lived more than five miles
from a polling booth. This, MLAs claimed, apparently
disenfranchised many thousands of voters — electors on active
service with the Armed Forces abroad or interstate, and those
civilians in another State on election day being particularly
mentioned.
CGS 12060,
File 61/534 in
[12/8595]
Includes letters/representations from MLAs about the issue;
representations from individuals such as members of ships' crews
who were unable to exercise their right to vote; representations
from such organisations as the Taylor's Arm Sub-branch of the
Australian Legion of Ex-Servicemen and Women on behalf of
soldiers on active service, the Federated Chamber of Commerce of
the Northern Tablelands and North-western Slopes re
disenfranchised voters absent on polling day; resolutions carried
at annual conferences of the Farmers and Settlers' Association of
NSW to have postal voting restored in State elections, and similar
resolutions at the May 1956 General Conference of the Country
Women's Association and of the NSW Division of the Liberal Party
of Australia; advice on whether outside polling facilities possible
under the legislation; advice from the Electoral Commissioner on
State Records Authority of New South Wales
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