EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1982 NO 108
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations.
CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Section 133AA of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 provides for the regulations to make provision for the conduct of elections by a direct voting system by secret postal ballot where the rules of an organisation registered under the Act do not provide for a secret postal ballot in respect os such elections.
Regulation 146AJ currently prescribes the procedures to be followed by the Returning Officer in issuing ballot papers in the course of the conduct of such an election.
The proposed amendment to regulation 146AJ will enable the Returning Officer to include with the ballot papers any material prepared by the candidate in circumstances where the rules of the organisation provide for such inclusion. The proposed amendment will also provide protection from liability for defamation proceedings against the Commonwealth, the Returning Officer or the printer arising from the issuing of such material in those cases where the election is an “officially” conducted election, ie, conducted by the Office of the Industrial Registrar or the Australian Electoral Office.