Fw: Electoral Rolls - Is it an answer ?
Trevor Smith
discussion and yes Ken I did see your replies which were to another posting
after mine.
Over the past 2 weeks I have been in contact with a local member and after 4
confusing emails and not answering my questions I "offered" to forward the
email to an opposition member to see if they could answer the question I got
the following reply -
Sorry I have confused you. According to the Special Minister of State's
Office, Senator Abetz, you should be able to go to the local AEC office and
find the information you require over the internet as information will soon
no longer be available on micro fiche.
If you wish to clarify this with the Ministers office please do not hesitate
to contact his office on 6277 7600.
They still haven't told me whether you can get the whole of Australia or
just the relevant state.
The whole discussion is below if you are interested - or maybe all contact
Senator Abetz Office - the area code is 02.
-----Original Message-----
From: Trevor Smith [mailto:tsm...@shoal.net.au]
Sent: Monday, 12 July 2004 6:39 PM
To: Gash, Joanna (MP)
Subject: Re: Electoral Rolls
Thanks Julia
Looks like we are going round in circles that are not ever decreasing
either.
The main reason I contacted your office was because the local Electoral
Office that I went to ( Warilla ) "Didn't know". They think there will be
a terminal where people can look up the roll, don't know when, Think that
you will only be able to look up NSW. Seems to me like a "Sir Humphrey" way
of handling the public. Sometimes wish I could get away with it in the
department I work for.
I know what is on the AEC site - yes I can check whether I am enrolled but
cannot find the address of someone else.
It would be "nice" if the AEC could at least put on their website what is
happening.
I am a member of several genealogy mailing lists which reach a large
number of people throughout Australia. Other people are trying to get
information from their local respective office without any success. I was
hoping to stem the tide of criticism of what may or may not be happening.
I have sent the request to your as a large number of the people who come
to the Family History Centre are from Ms Gash's electorate and also because
she is currently a sitting member and I expected would have more access to
what is going on. Should I forward this email to Jennie George as well ?
Trevor
----- Original Message -----
From: Gash, Joanna (MP)
To: Trevor Smith
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 3:30 PM
Subject: RE: Electoral Rolls
Dear Mr Smith,
Sorry for the delay in responding.
You will need to go to an AEC Office initially. It appears that you
will be able to access parts of the roll from home and by visiting your
local AEC Office I am sure they will be able to provide you with the details
on how you can do this.
Hope this information helps and good luck with your search.
Regards
Julia Guy
-----Original Message-----
From: Trevor Smith [mailto:tsm...@shoal.net.au]
Sent: Monday, 5 July 2004 4:44 PM
To: Gash, Joanna (MP)
Subject: Re: Electoral Rolls
Thanks Julia
Does this mean they will be Online on the internet or on a terminal in
an AEC Office.
Will there be access to the Electoral Rolls for the whole of
Australia.
Trevor
----- Original Message -----
From: Gash, Joanna (MP)
To: Trevor Smith
Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 1:21 PM
Subject: RE: Electoral Rolls
Dear Mr Smith,
Thank you for your email.
Just to let you know that all microfiche electoral rolls will become
unavailable as they are currently being made available online.
It is hoped that all electoral rolls will be available online within
the next couple of weeks.
Hope this information assists.
Kind regards
Julia Guy
on behalf of Joanna Gash MP.
-----Original Message-----
From: Trevor Smith [mailto:tsm...@shoal.net.au]
Sent: Thursday, 1 July 2004 6:06 PM
To: Gash, Joanna (MP)
Subject: Electoral Rolls
Ms Gash
I am a volunteer at Kiama Family History Centre and make extensive
use of the resources there as well as the internet and Rootsweb message
lists. I also often volunteer to do searches for people in other countries
or other areas of Australia without easy access to the same resources that I
have.
Below is a copy of the text of an email I have placed on the
GENANZ ( Genealogy Australia and New Zealand ) message list -
"It looks like access to one of our most valuable resources for
tracing living relatives will become a little more difficult. Today I
attended my local Australian Electoral Office ( in NSW ) to have a look at
the microfiche for Queensland only to be told they had been removed from
access. ( I suppose it might be fair enough with an election coming up and
the current fiche becoming out of date. ) The only place that all states
fiche would be available in NSW would be the AEC office in Sydney. The
local office were happy to look up any NSW enquiries on their computer but
unable to look up QLD.
In the "future" a computer will be available for public use but
only for NSW. I assume that the same will apply to other states which will
cause inconvenience to those of us who live outside a capital city."
This search was being done for a list member in Canada wishing to
make contact with a cousin.
Can you tell me if there is any logical simple reason for this
decision ? Can it be reversed or is there any reason why local terminals
cannot have access to other states rolls? As there must be large numbers of
these sets of microfiche being returned to the Sydney ( and every other
capital city office ) can you obtain a set of these for the centre ? Even
though they will be slightly out of date, they will be an invaluable
resource in continuing the good work done at the centre.
It seems that access will not be denied - it will just be making
the pursuit of the information inconvenient for the average public.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Gibb" <gi...@melbpc.org.au>
To: <GENA...@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 4:08 PM
Subject: Re: Electoral Rolls
> On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 07:50:02 +0000 (UTC), tsm...@shoal.net.au ("Trevor
> Smith") wrote:
>
> >It looks like access to one of our most valuable resources for tracing
living relatives will become a little more difficult. Today I attended my
local Australian Electoral Office ( in NSW ) to have a look at the
microfiche for Queensland only to be told they had been removed from access.
( I suppose it might be fair enough with an election coming up and the
current fiche becoming out of date. ) The only place that all states fiche
would be available in NSW would be the AEC office in Sydney. The local
office were happy to look up any NSW enquiries on their computer but unable
to look up QLD.
> >
> >In the "future" a computer will be avaiable for public use but only for
NSW. I assume that the same will apply to other states which will cause
inconvenience to those of us who live outside a capital city.
> >
> >With an election in the wind it might be time to harrass my local member.
> >
> >Trevor in Albion Park NSW
>
>
> Obviously you have not " browsed" my messages on E.O.A. over the past
> two weeks.
> Suggest you do. '
>
>
> Ken
> Jill and Ken Gibb e-mail - jill...@melbpc.org.au
> Mordialloc, Victoria
> Australia
>
>
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