General

	Click on the image to enrol to vote at the AEC webpage

Democracy up for grabs – enrol to vote!

The coming federal election will be critical in shaping the society we live in. It is when we all make our voices heard at the ballot box that we can have a real say in the way our country is governed. We encourage all members to ensure they are enrolled to vote. It's easy to enrol - read on for details.

Enrolling to vote is easy

The AEC (Australian Electoral Commission) website has a page where you can download the appropriate enrolment form for your state or territory:

http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/what/enrolment/forms.htm

Remember, if you leave your enrolment too late, even though it may be well before an election date, you won't be able to vote as the AEC requires some time to process enrolments.

So, if you are not currently enrolled, enrol now!

Why the ASU encourages voting

In order for Australia to have a vibrant democracy, all eligible voters should ensure they are enrolled. The right to vote is both a privilege and a responsibility that we should all take quite seriously.

Australians may be known culturally as a very laid back and relaxed people, but we are passionate about everyone getting a fair go. When we vote we are ensuring that our society reflects our aspirations.

Some of the issues we believe are important

Workplace issues

As a union, the ASU's business is to care about what people experience in their roles as workers. We believe the current Federal Government has been very anti-worker, so we encourage voters to think about these issues when deciding who they will vote for at the next election.

Some of the particular topics of concern have been (click on the links for further information):

• unfair dismissal laws
• redundancy entitlements
• what can be covered in awards
• protection of casual workers
• fair wages
• work life balance
• ensuring all workers have access to collective bargaining
• paid maternity leave
• protection for workers who are discriminated against (eg. young people)

Child Care & Aged Care

Not only do many members of the ASU have children and are faced with the difficult challenge of balancing work and family, we also have many members who are child carers in local government. Although the ASU has achieved a lot for our child care members in recent times, the issue of equity with child carers in the private sector will be a significant factor in job security across the sector.

Check out our local government news for further details.

Similarly with aged care, many of our members have elderly parents requiring care as well as a number of our members being care givers to the elderly through local government.

As a society, access to quality and affordable child care and aged care are things we should all take for granted, but can't under the current regime.

Medicare

Why are unions so concerned about Medicare? We're concerned because Medicare was in part an achievement of unions in the 1980s, a part of the "social wage" we negotiated with the then Hawke Government to ensure workers could access quality health care without a concern for whether they could afford it. The ASU has a Save Medicare campaign page which you can visit for further details.

A checklist for women voters

Further information about things we recommend you consider before voting are on our Women's Page.

Be quick before John Howard’s changes cut you off

The Howard Government has recently proposed changes to the law governing voter enrolment. It plans to close the electoral rolls on the day the election is announced.

These changes are wrong. They contradict the recommendation of a Parliamentary Committee which said the rolls should stay open for a week after the election announcement.

If these changes had come into effect before the last federal election was called in 2001, 83,000 people would have been prevented from voting - these people enrolled after the announcement.

But the implications of the changes on the 2001 events don't end there - nearly 300,000 people would have been prevented from updating their enrolment, meaning they had to vote in a division they no longer were part of.

Remember, you can enrol to vote when you turn 17 and your eligibility will start when you turn 18.

Enrol now and tell your family and friends to enrol too!!