Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

As a co-sponsor of this motion, I think what occurred in the South Australian election is something that needs to be looked at at a federal level. These terms of reference will deal with that. I note that the South Australian premier has indicated concerns and that there may well be changes to the South Australian Electoral Act so that this sort of thing does not occur again. Obviously Senator Brown is in a much better position to discuss this, but in previous years there was misleading conduct in relation to people saying they were Greens or associated with the Greens. I have heard stories about that occurring in years gone by. One of the problems that we have in relation to section 329 of the Electoral Act at the moment is that it deals with the issue of printed material. T-shirts are not included as printed material. I have drafted an amendment to the Electoral Act to include the issue of conduct and have forwarded copies of that to my colleagues. I would like to think it is something that will have bipartisan support, because clearly what occurred in South Australia indicates a problem: the possibility of abuse. I do not think anyone in this chamber would want to go down that path. For the next federal election I think it is important. We have been alerted to it; now we need to deal with it. That is why I support and have, in fact, co-sponsored these terms of reference to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.