Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction) | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The bill amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Electoral Act) and the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 (Referendum Act) to strengthen the integrity of Australia's electoral communication framework and reduce the risk of foreign influence on Australian elections.

Foreign electoral communication and expenditure

This bill amends the Electoral Act to prohibit foreign individuals and entities, known in the bill as 'foreign campaigners', from authorising the communication of electoral matter. This amendment will support the integrity of Australian electoral processes by ensuring that only those with a legitimate connection to Australia are able to authorise electoral communications.

This bill builds on past reforms that established prohibitions on the receipt of foreign donations, including the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Act 2018, and the more recent Electoral Legislation Amendment (Annual Disclosure Equality) Act 2021.

The bill will prohibit foreign campaigners from incurring electoral expenditure of $1,000 or more in a financial year, or fundraising for that purpose, to ensure that foreign actors cannot fund electoral campaigns using an Australian notifying entity.

The bill also ensures existing bans on fundraising for the purpose of incurring electoral expenditure for unregistered entities that are required to register with the Australian Electoral Commission are applied consistently.

These amendments effectively address a potential 'loophole' where foreign donors may be able to circumvent the existing restrictions within the Electoral Act by conducting and funding electoral campaigns directly.

The amendments prohibiting foreign campaigners utilise the existing definition of 'foreign donor', making these amendments simple to apply.

These amendments are necessary to support the integrity of Australia's electoral system by ensuring that foreign influence through electoral campaigns is kept out of Australian elections.

Increasing maximum penalty for misleading voter s in relation to the casting of their vote

Currently, the penalty for contravening section 329 of the Electoral Act—misleading or deceiving an elector in relation to the casting of their vote—does not reflect the potential seriousness and scale of such an offence in contemporary digital and telecommunication environments.

This bill will uplift the maximum sentence of imprisonment for contravening this provision to three years or 100 penalty units for a natural person and 500 penalty units for a body corporate.

This uplift will be a greater deterrent for persons seeking to mislead, deceive or otherwise interfere with an elector's free exercise of their vote.

The bill also increases the penalty in the equivalent provision in the Referendum Act.

Conclusion

Threats of foreign influence in federal elections risk the erosion of public confidence in the electoral process.

This bill's prohibition on foreign persons from authorising electoral matter, or fundraising or directly incurring electoral expenditure, will minimise the risk of foreign influence in Australian democracy, and demonstrates the government's strong commitment to improving the robustness and integrity of Australia's electoral processes.

I commend this bill.

Debate adjourned.

Leave granted for second reading debate to resume at a later hour this day.