Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to speak on the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2005, because it embraces a number of the recommendations made by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, of which I have the privilege of being a member. As part of my role as a member of that committee I undertook to travel right across the length and breadth of Australia, talking to people from towns and cities and taking on board their advice about the ways in which we can make Australian democracy function even better than it currently does.

In due course I would like to turn my mind to some of the hypocritical remarks made by the member for Wills, which underscore the attitude of the Australian Labor Party in this debate. Time and time again, we see the Australian Labor Party say one thing in this chamber but do the complete opposite in reality. I will come to those remarks in a moment.

At this stage I would like to focus on a couple of key points—that is, to acknowledge the hard and diligent work performed by the chair of the committee, Mr Tony Smith, the member for Casey, as well as the hard work put in by Senators Brandis and Mason and me and Ms Sophie Panopoulos, whose electorate name escapes me—

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