Legislatition being invalidated by the courts
- Vickie Lee Roach challenged the validity of the Commonwealth’s Electoral Act, arguing that the provisions removing the ability to vote from prisoners were outside the Parliament’s power because it breached the principle of representative government in the Constitution.
2. The High Court found that the 2006 amendments taking the franchise away from allprisoners, regardless of the length of their sentence, was an improper restriction onrepresentative government and universal suffrage; but that the original prohibition onprisoners serving a sentence of three years or more was valid.
3. The High Court had the power to invalidate the 2006 amendments because they went beyond the power of the federal parliament
4. The High Court did not have the power to invalidate the original provisionsbecause they were enacted within the power of the federal parliament, and the parliament is the supreme law-maker.