The Australian Electoral Commission has been ordered to reveal details of how Australia’s Senate votes are counted after earlier refusing to release documents about the voting system.



On Thursday the Senate ordered the AEC to produce details of the computer program used to calculate Australia’s complex system of preference votes by 15 July.

The motion, which was introduced by the Greens senator Lee Rhiannon, followed an earlier refusal of the AEC to release the information in response to a freedom of information request for the documents.

“There is no justification for the AEC refusing to release information on how the Senate vote is counted,” Rhiannon said. “It is widely known that it is very complex so surely the methodology used should be publicly available.

“Why would you stop the public knowing how the Senate vote is counted?”

The motion also ordered the commission to produce documents relating to its move to declare Michael Cordover, who lodged the freedom of information request initially, a vexatious applicant after just two requests.

Cordover had lodged the requests before he received a letter from the commission’s chief legal officer, Paul Pirani, that radically escalated the matter. Pirani said he would move to have Cordover declared vexatious by the information commissioner.

If the information commissioner declares someone a vexatious applicant, the government agency can ignore that person’s requests. But a high level of bad behaviour must be demonstrated, usually involving threats, abusive behaviour or a huge number of information requests.

“The AEC are not only doing the wrong thing in refusing a legitimate FOI request – in the wake of the WA federal election debacle they are further damaging their own reputation,” Rhiannon said.

“The AEC hardline position in trying to discredit Mr Cordover as a vexatious litigant is an abuse of the law under which the AEC operates and raises the very relevant question what do they have to hide.”

The electoral commission must comply with the production order within five days.