Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent a bill for an act to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, and for related purposes being presented immediately and a motion being moved for the second reading of the bill.

The reason the government is moving this motion today is that we are determined to give the Electoral Commission the necessary time to be able to implement changes to the Senate voting system, well in advance of when an election is due in the second half of 2016. As members would be well aware, there was a Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters report in April 2014, which was a unanimous report. In fact, Gary Gray, the retiring member for Brand, said that if the recommendations of the report were not implemented that the parliament would be letting down its responsibility to future generations. Since that time, the government has gone through an exhaustive consultative process with a large number of people, in both Houses, to ensure that what is put forward to the parliament has a general consensus. But, of course, as is often the requirement of this parliament, we intend to have a full examination of that bill by the Joint Standing Committee on Election Matters between now and mid-next week, in order to give the parliament an opportunity to examine the aspects of the bill.

This should be non-controversial reform because the bill that will soon be introduced by the Treasurer, on behalf of the Special Minister of State, Senator Cormann, effectively implements the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Election Matters and has, at its core, that the preferences of an individual voter should be determined by the individual voter rather than by registered groups or individual voting tickets. As we have seen over the years, there has been a tendency for some political parties and individuals to game the political system. What this government wants to do, and we hope the Senate will agree, is to put the power over people's preferences back in the hands of the individual voter.

The reason why the standing order should be suspended at this particular time is that in order for the bill both to be referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to be considered by that standing committee and then to be passed through this House and then Senate it needs to be introduced today. That will allow the chamber the opportunity to debate the bill this week. It is certainly not the government's intention to rush this bill through the parliament, but after a debate this week we would expect to pass the bill this week and have it go into the Senate so that the Senate can consider it in due course, according to its own schedule.

This has been the subject of exhaustive discussion since before April 2014. Nobody could suggest that somehow the government has sprung this on the Australian public or the parliament, because it has been discussed since before April 2014. It has been the subject of a unanimous Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters report. In fact, I think the distinguished current Speaker was the chairman of that particular inquiry. Now, the time has come to introduce the bill, to act on the committee's recommendations and to give the public the opportunity to express its own preferences through our very democratic preference system, that is the envy of many democracies around the world—in fact, the envy of many countries around the world—rather than being decided by group or individual registered-voting tickets.

I am very pleased to see the member for Brand in the House today—and I note his recent announcement that he intends to retire from this parliament—because he was a key driver of these reforms in the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. I know the member for Brand has been a strong advocate and supporter of reform of the Senate voting system. I am pleased to see that the Treasurer is here in the House, because once the suspension of standing orders is carried the Treasurer will introduce the bill and then introduce the motion to refer the matter to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. Given the arrival of all relevant parties, I will curtail my remarks.

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