Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is the introduction of an optional preferential system, which will result in a massive exhaustion of votes. This is about making sure that the votes of those people who choose to vote for a minor party will go nowhere. That is what this proposal will result in—that is what the modelling itself says it will do. This is an electoral fix. This is a rort. This is a set of rules, a structure and a system that have been created with the sole purpose of wiping out a handful of crossbench senators and locking in a handful of Greens senators. This is bad policy, this is bad law and it is being done for the wrong reasons.

If we are serious about electoral reform, why aren't we looking at how we can reform below-the-line voting? Why aren't we using a lengthier process? This has been rushed in for a double dissolution election and the Greens should be appalled. You should be appalled.