Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Polley says it is a good idea. I will tell you what is finished, Senator Polley, as a result of these bills. In these two bills you have trashed something that I would have thought every single person in this place believed was precious, and that is the integrity of the electoral roll. Yes, I will finish, because I have 51 seconds left. But when you withdraw a right from a group of people who have accepted the legitimate responsibilities which come with that right, when you create an environment where that level of trust can no longer exist, then this is a legacy that the Australian Labor Party and the Greens will have to live with. It is a cheap philosophical stunt with quite dramatic ramifications which will come back to haunt the Greens and the Labor Party. But, regrettably, they will haunt the very things that underpin this democracy of ours.