01:04

Liberal MP for North Sydney, Trent Zimmerman, has advocated compulsory voter identification for federal elections in the Coalition party room on Tuesday.



Zimmerman told Guardian Australia it would be a “reasonably simple step to ensure the integrity of the voting system”.



“It seems bizarre that you require more ID to get into a pub in Sydney than to determine the prime minister of Australia. It’s about time we ensured the possibility of multiple voting is precluded by this simple step.”



He said there were 8,000 cases of suspected multiple voting referred to the Australian federal police at the 2013 election. But because the lack of resources to investigate and burden of evidence is so high, it was more important to prevent rather than punish multiple voting, Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman was the only one to speak directly on the issue but it had widespread support, indicating it could soon become official policy.



Asked about the possibility voters could be disenfranchised because they lacked ID, Zimmerman said that people who attended the polls without ID could cast a provisional ballot and have their identity checked later before the vote was counted.



There was also a “legitimate discussion” about whether photo ID would be required or a credit card or Medicare card would suffice, which would also alleviate the concern of disenfranchisement.