An ex-Noreen Hay staffer is facing up to two years behind bars after being found guilty of engaging in electoral fraud just months before the 2015 state election.
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Susan Greenhalgh, who worked in the former Wollongong MP’s electoral office for nine years, faced charges of knowingly using forged electoral enrollment application forms on five occasions in the lead-up to a pre-selection vote which saw Ms Hay beat Paul Scully and Ann Martin to be returned as the party’s Wollongong candidate ahead of the election.
The court heard Greenhalgh signed and electronically lodged four change of address applications and one fresh enrollment application with the Australian Electoral Commission on November 6, 2014, which moved four people from living outside the Wollongong electoral district to living inside it.
Three were listed as living with the party’s branch secretary in Hillcrest St, Wollongong. Another man had his address changed from Fernhill, in the Keira electorate, to Coniston, where he had not lived for five years.
A fifth person - a British citizen with longstanding ties to Ms Hay’s partner - was enrolled to vote, despite not being eligible under the law.
On each occasion, Greenhalgh signed the forms using “a squiggle” before submitting them to the AEC.
Four out of the five people told the court they had no idea the forms had been submitted on their behalf and they'd never given permission for it to be done. They also denied living at the addresses on the forms.
The British citizen said she had given Greenhalgh permission to enroll her, however the court heard Greenhalgh was aware the woman was legally not allowed to vote.
Giving evidence during the hearing, Greenhalgh admitted she had signed the documents on behalf of the members, despite never having spoken to them personally, but believe she had permission from them through the branch secretary, and that the addresses given to her were accurate.
In a 90-minute judgement handed down in court on Monday, Magistrate Susan McGowan found that Greenhalgh had dishonest intentions when she lodged the forms and that she knew they were false.
“It was obvious she was crunching the numbers so to speak,” Magistrate McGowan said.
“She hadn’t obtained permission from the individuals...the authority was from a third party. She could have contacted the people herself but she had a deadline.
”I find it implausible that someone who had been employed in Ms Hay’s office for eight years….could think she could sign someone’s name on such a significant form.”
Greenhalgh will face sentencing in July.