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Speaker 1: We know that earlier this week the risk was issued

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Speaker 1: for the referendum, so the issuing of that rit formally

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Speaker 1: sets the referendum in motion with the Australian Electoral Commission

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Speaker 1: gearing up for voting across the Northern Territory. And joining

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Speaker 1: me in the studio is Jeff Bluem, the NT Australian

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Speaker 1: Electoral Officer. Good morning to you, Jeff.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so very much for joining us. Now we

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Speaker 1: know that the wheels are in motion. Now what are

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Speaker 1: the next steps for you from a logistics perspective.

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Speaker 2: I guess yeah, as you say, the writ was issued

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Speaker 2: for the referendum on Monday, so right now we're sending

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Speaker 2: contracts out to our polling staff right across the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 2: around eight hundred polling staff helping us out in service

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Speaker 2: delivery for this event. Of course, all the venues we

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Speaker 2: need a venue to operate from, so all the contracts

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Speaker 2: for our polling place is currently being signed as well.

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Speaker 2: And of course enrollment is a big thing right now,

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Speaker 2: with the rolls closing next Monday night at eight pm,

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Speaker 2: and so we're encouraging people to update their enrollment who've

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Speaker 2: moved from into state. You need to update your enrollment

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Speaker 2: so that you're now enrolled in the Northern Territory. And

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Speaker 2: of course if people are not on the roll, there's

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Speaker 2: an opportunity to go onto the website. It's really easy

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Speaker 2: and I only take you a few minutes to put

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Speaker 2: yourself on the roll, Jeff.

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Speaker 1: In terms of the venues and the number of venues

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Speaker 1: that will have across the territory for people to vote,

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Speaker 1: is it going to be quite a few?

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Speaker 2: There are, and it's very similar to what we did

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Speaker 2: last year, so the federal election last year. So we'll

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Speaker 2: have nine early voting centers right across the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: open from up to two weeks, forty six polling places

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Speaker 2: on polling day. We call those static pilling places again

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Speaker 2: right across the Northern Territory. And the information about where

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Speaker 2: those venues are is on our website, or it will

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Speaker 2: be not there yet. It will be soon.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, especially if you're still signing all that stuff off,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure it will be very soon. Now tell me

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Speaker 1: when it comes to things like early voting and postal votes,

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Speaker 1: can anybody vote early or do you need to have

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Speaker 1: a reason why you've got to vote early.

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Speaker 2: There's some eligibility criteria about people casting an early vote,

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Speaker 2: and that information agains on our website. But if you

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Speaker 2: can't get to a piling place on polling day, you're

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Speaker 2: looking after a sick relative, you might be working, you're

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Speaker 2: already on the roster, you might be traveling to another location.

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Speaker 2: So those sorts of things would make you eligible for

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Speaker 2: either a postal vote or to visit one of our

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Speaker 2: early voting centers.

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Speaker 1: And so is it a situation if you are one

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Speaker 1: of those people and I am going to be one

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Speaker 1: of those people? So do you jump online and you've

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Speaker 1: got to fill something in or do you just rock

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Speaker 1: up and say, I'm not going to be able to

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Speaker 1: vote on the day, so I've got to do it early.

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Speaker 2: So if you want to do apply for a postal boat,

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Speaker 2: you're able to do that. Jump onto the website there,

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Speaker 2: fill out a postal vote application really simple, or one

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Speaker 2: of those early voting centers, and when you go to

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Speaker 2: the early voting center, you'll be directed to the issuing point,

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Speaker 2: you'll be issued with your vote, and then you can

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Speaker 2: cross that off your list and do whatever it is

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Speaker 2: you need to do and travel or whatever it may be.

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Speaker 1: Perfect, because I do think that it does make it

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Speaker 1: a bit easier for people as well, if you're able

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Speaker 1: to do you know, if you've able to do that

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Speaker 1: early vote, if they're then in a situation like you said,

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Speaker 1: where you've got to work on the Saturday or whatever.

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Speaker 1: It just makes it a little bit more easy and

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Speaker 1: hopefully means that more people will actually turn up to vote,

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Speaker 1: which is something that we're talking about. Yesterday on the show,

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Speaker 1: we spoke with the Northern Territory Electoral Commissionary and Logan

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Speaker 1: Nathan about you know, about what we've seen over I

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Speaker 1: guess recent local elections and that is a pretty low

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Speaker 1: voter turnout. How is the Australian Electoral Commission working or

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Speaker 1: what kind of work is being done to try to

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Speaker 1: make sure that as many people as possible do turn out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is important and I think I might have

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Speaker 2: said to you before that we've managed the AEC's managed

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Speaker 2: to lift up the electoral role in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: We've got around ninety two percent of eligible Territorians currently

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Speaker 2: on the role. Never been done before, first time we've

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Speaker 2: ever been over ninety percent, So that's a great outcome

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Speaker 2: and likewise for indigenous electors or eligible people. We've got

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Speaker 2: around eighty seven percent of eligible, so that's a fantastic outcome.

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Speaker 2: But we've almost created a problem for ourselves here because

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Speaker 2: we've been so successful with enrollment that we need to

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Speaker 2: do as much as we possibly can and make sure

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Speaker 2: people are involved. And that's why I'm talking about people

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Speaker 2: planning their vote. Don't leave it to the last minute

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Speaker 2: and then realize you can't get to a polling place

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Speaker 2: on polling day, for example. So if you need to

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Speaker 2: apply for a postal vote, please do that or work

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Speaker 2: out where our early voting centers are for up to

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Speaker 2: two weeks prior to polling day and make sure you participate.

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Speaker 2: But it is a challenge for us. We're really hopeful

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Speaker 2: of people are going to engage with the referendum and

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Speaker 2: vote and so participate, and we'll do everything we possibly

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Speaker 2: can through our national communications program and also some local advertising.

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Speaker 1: Will people be fined if they don't.

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Speaker 2: There is a fine. Voting's compulsory, So for referendums, as

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Speaker 2: it is for federal elections, it's compulsor to be on

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Speaker 2: the federal electoral role and compulsory to vote. There is

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Speaker 2: a small fine if people don't vote, but we will

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Speaker 2: send letters to people who are apparent non voters, is

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Speaker 2: what we call them. I'm just saying, just you know,

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Speaker 2: you didn't vote during the SAVAK can just tell us why,

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Speaker 2: and then we'll make a determination as to whether the

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Speaker 2: reason they provide is sufficient.

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Speaker 1: Out how much is the fine?

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Speaker 2: Twenty dollars do you reckon?

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Speaker 1: That's enough? Like I said this to Ian Logan Nathan

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Speaker 1: as well, I've said it on numerous occasions, and I

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Speaker 1: know you're not the person who gets to decide, but

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Speaker 1: is it a big enough deterrent for people?

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Speaker 2: It's not a lot of money. I think that's fair

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Speaker 2: to say, and that figure has been around since the

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Speaker 2: nineteen eighties, but not a matter for myself or for

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Speaker 2: the agency to talk to whether when that might be changed.

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Speaker 2: But it's really about us encouraging, you know, the carrot

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Speaker 2: and the stick. We are just trying to get people

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Speaker 2: to participate and providing the opportunity for them to vote.

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Speaker 2: That's our role, and so that's what we'll do for

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Speaker 2: the next period of time.

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Speaker 1: Jeff, can you explain to our listeners, because we've had

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Speaker 1: quite a few people get contact with us about this,

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Speaker 1: how Territorians votes are going to be counted, because some

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Speaker 1: are feeling as though their vote won't count because the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territories vote as a whole state is not going

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Speaker 1: to count when it comes to that state majority.

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Speaker 2: Well, you're right, there is some confusion about the double

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Speaker 2: majority for referendums. So for referendum to be successful, we

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Speaker 2: need a national majority of electors voting yes and four

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Speaker 2: of the six states also voting yes. So prior to

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Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven when a referendum was held, ironically, one

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Speaker 2: of the questions during that referendum was do to Australian

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Speaker 2: people endorse the votes from Territorians. That's Australian Capital, Territory

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Speaker 2: and Northern Territory being counted in that national majority. That

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Speaker 2: was successful and so since nineteen seventy seven, Territorian's votes

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Speaker 2: come into that national majority. Every vote is important for Territorians.

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Speaker 2: Our votes are important part of that national majority, and

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Speaker 2: so we encourage people to be involved.

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Speaker 1: Well, Jeff Bloom, the Northern Territory, Well, the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: is electoral officer. We really appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much for coming in and having a

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Speaker 1: chat with US, Thanks Cotie, thank you,