Murphy v Electoral Commissioner & Anor

This matter came before the High Court of Australia concerning a dispute between Mr Murphy (the plaintiff) and the Electoral Commissioner and the Commonwealth of Australia (the defendants). The core of the dispute revolved around the validity of certain provisions of the Electoral Act, specifically concerning the timing of enrolment and the ability of individuals to enrol and vote. The parties were seeking to clarify their respective positions and the legal issues to be determined, with a view to filing a special case for the Court's consideration.

The legal issues before the Court, as articulated by the parties, included whether the suspension provisions of the Electoral Act were invalid, and if so, how the Act should operate in their absence. A key question was whether individuals were entitled to enrol and vote up to and including the day of the election, or if the Act's operation, even without suspension provisions, would effectively prevent further enrolments. The plaintiff also sought to challenge section 155 of the Act, which deals with the closure of rolls, arguing it had an operation substantially the same as the suspension provisions.

The Court was required to consider the plaintiff's arguments that the Electoral Act, operating in accordance with its terms and the Electoral Commissioner's current practices but without suspension provisions, would allow for continued enrolment and processing of applications. This would, in turn, permit individuals entitled to be enrolled to cast a declaration vote if not yet on the roll. Furthermore, the plaintiff contended that if a cut-off date were to be constitutionally valid, it should be measured backwards from the date of the poll, not from the issue of the writs, as a matter of proportionality and to demonstrate the invalidity of the current cut-off date. The defendants, however, expressed concerns about the multiplicity of the plaintiff's cases and the potential for the Court to be asked to effectively rewrite the Electoral Act.