Vote at the TAB

Much ado is being made of the fact that the New South Wales government has reduced its subsidy of the cost of local council elections through the Electoral Commission.

Recent reports suggest that it will cost local ratepayers about five dollars each, about $500,000, from the collected rates to pay for the election of local councillors.

Whether the proportion borne by the State Government is the same as the ratio of local citizen ratepayers to non-ratepaying citizens or whether this is another unrecognised inequitable State Government tax, I do not know.

I do know that this is a great opportunity to totally modernise and rationalise in the light of fabulous advances in technology.

For over 20 years, I have advocated that the openness and honesty of elections together with a reduction of costs can be simply achieved.

The greatest cost of elections is in the casual wages paid to people who in the main are already paid well above the national average.

They act on behalf of the Electoral Commission on election day.

The same result can be far more expeditiously concluded and expeditiously undertaken by voting through the State TAB operation.

If anyone says that is not absolutely secure, they should consider that they are also saying that the government and police are sanctioning and accessories to the corrupt theft of gambler's and/or government money.

I suggest that in fact TAB office security now allows for identification of people "voting early and frequently", ghosts and multiple identities.

The TAB staff are already trained to identify ineligible clients ie. under 18.

Why do we have to provide points indentification to commercial institutions but not the more important voting scrutineers?

The cost to each local council should be in the order of $10,000 per election or referendum.

I am sure that the operators of the TAB would be delighted to pick up about a further $2 million each year local elections are held - based on about 200 local councils in NSW.

Certainly the taxpayers and ratepayers of New South Wales will be delighted to see a reduction of this magnitude.

Does the lack of use of the system of indelible ink on the finger to identify those who have already voted reveal an inadequacy in Australia to ensure fair open democracy?

Richard J. Newby Woy Woy