Professor Sarah Ferber, a leading expert in medical ethics at the University of Wollongong, has questioned the ethics of Queensland's health authorities in continuing to support booth voting in the state's Saturday local elections.
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On Monday the Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeanette Young, outlined how the Queensland Local Council elections would be conducted.
Yet, Professor Ferber maintains the decision to go ahead with the elections on Saturday "potentially risks the lives of responsible Queenslanders who vote because they are obliged to or out of a sense of civic duty".
"There is no point in the Premier telling people to stay close to home one day and then fining them for not leaving their homes to vote. The Government made provisions last week for the elections to be postponed. They should be taking that course of action," Prof Ferber said.
She added it was not in the interests of democracy for voters to be encouraged to minimise their time deciding who to vote for.
"And electoral staff should not be exposed to unnecessary risk for hours at a time," Prof Ferber said.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
