TUCKED away at Recommendation 16 of the recent “Voting Matters” report is a ground-breaking suggestion that will be welcomed by most ACT constituents.

The report of the ACT Legislative Assembly’s Select Committee on Amendments to the Electoral Act 1992 contains 18 recommendations, which deal mainly with issues of finance: electoral expenditure, donations, the amount payable for each first preference cast and even the penalty for failing to turn up to vote in an Assembly election.

Put simply, the committee is recommending that the 100-metre rule limiting canvassing for votes at a polling booth be increased to 250 metres.

Not only will this extension apply to zealous volunteers waving how-to-vote pamphlets, but also to signage – probably the most effective means of promoting party candidates given the Robson rotation of our Assembly ballot papers.

Since the inception of the 100-metre rule around polling places, problems have arisen. Apart from the occasional breach by individual enthusiasts, the security fencing of schools, usually the main polling centres, has seen voters channelled to school gates often beyond the 100 metres making them easy targets for party workers and effectively defeating the purpose of the rule intended to avoid disruption to voters attending a polling place.

Extending the limit to 250 metres should prevent this inconvenience and will be particularly useful for pre-poll voters. Many of these booths are in commercial premises where application of the shorter distance sometimes is difficult to measure, for example, if the booth was upstairs.

Political parties should not be too concerned at this suggested change. Manning polling booths has become increasingly challenging over recent elections as Canberra grows and more booths are opened to accommodate the populations of newer suburbs. Volunteers for pre-polling booths open during the working week are a particular headache for campaign organisers.

Thus the responsibility of finding enough people to man all booths at a 250-metre radius will be a convenient excuse to abandon the whole nightmarish exercise.

It should also go some way to achieve what a democratic election is all about: not being given a sheet of paper to blindly follow, but people casting a vote having made up their minds after careful consideration of party platforms and the individual merit of each candidate.

By comparison, my own suggestion to place party how-to-vote cards inside polling booths, as I understand is the practice in SA, and therefore banning canvassing outside the booths, is a poor alternative. At no financial cost and in one simple move – with the distance involved further extended if necessary – an irritating problem has been solved.

Now all that remains is for the Assembly itself to accept the recommendation.

Greg Cornwell is a former speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly