This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A furious Labor party has signalled it could postpone its national conference after the speaker, Tony Smith, indicated the “super Saturday” of byelections triggered by the dual citizenship crisis would take place on 28 July – the same weekend as its gathering.

Smith told parliament on Thursday the contests – which loom as major electoral tests for Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten – would need to happen late in July to allow electoral officials to issue new regulations ensuring that candidates comply with their constitutional requirements under section 44, and because of the scheduling of school holidays in the relevant states.



Labor, blindsided by the decision, expressed its objections immediately to the proposed timeframe, and signalled it might shelve its national conference, which is currently scheduled for 26-28 July in Adelaide.

Plibersek says byelection date designed to disadvantage Labor party – politics live Read more

The ALP’s deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, branded the decision “a disgraceful delay and a sneaky tactic from Malcolm Turnbull”.

“It would appear this has been deliberately designed to disadvantage the Labor party, given our national conference is scheduled for that weekend,” she said. “This will obviously have implications for our national conference.

“Our activists will want to be out in the community campaigning for Labor, not sitting in a conference centre.”

The outrage from the opposition flowed into a Senate estimates hearing, where officials from the Australian Electoral Commission were called to account for advice they had given the Speaker prompting Thursday’s decision.

Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, told the electoral commissioner, Tom Rogers, that he had given the Turnbull government “cover” for a politically advantageous decision, which had the effect of depleting the ALP’s numbers in the lower house for two months and creating a scheduling collision with the national conference.

The electoral commissioner, Tom Rogers, objected to the line of questioning, and went toe-to-toe with Wong in the hearing. “Are you saying I’m partisan?” Rogers asked Wong. “I’m saying it looks partisan,” Wong replied.

Rogers declared the electoral commission should not be “fingered” when parliamentarians had created the underlying mess that triggered the byelections. The commissioner noted MPs had created the dual citizenship fiasco by failing to comply with the constitutional requirements to sit in parliament.

“Several members of the House have resigned, resigned as a result of failing to follow procedures, and now somehow the AEC is being fingered as being responsible for the outcomes of this?” a visibly irritated Rogers said.

Smith told parliament shortly after question time he was inclined to issue the writs for 28 July because the AEC had told him it would need two weeks to implement new administrative procedures candidates need to follow to ensure compliance with section 44, and because election contests in school holidays “created additional difficulties for voters, and risk disenfranchisement and low turnout”.

The byelection contests will take place in Longman, Braddon, Mayo, Fremantle and Perth.

Rogers acknowledged in the estimates committee the recent byelection in Bennelong had taken place during the school holidays. He said the AEC was ready and willing to hold the byelections during school holidays, but the decision was ultimately up to the Speaker.

Rogers said he had provided advice to Smith about “factors” relevant to the conduct of the byelection contests, with some options for dates supplied. “I provided an optimal date ... but I’ve made clear in the advice we are prepared to run elections on any date.”

Wong was chided repeatedly by the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, for questioning the independence of Rogers. “You are badgering the witness and badgering a statutory independent officer.

“Senator Wong, he is not a partisan actor ... Quite frankly it is Bill Shorten and the Labor party responsible for the delay in these elections.”

Labor’s Senate leader said she was not badgering the witness, she was giving him an opportunity to explain a highly controversial decision.