Robert Simms (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter. I start by recognising the work of my colleague Senator Lee Rhiannon, who has been pushing this issue for many years. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to finally reform our voting system in this country and ensure that the will of the Australian community is reflected in election outcomes. Of course, the Greens have been leading this debate over many, many years. It was Senator Bob Brown who first put this on the agenda 12 years ago, and now we are finally at the point where we may see action on this issue—and that is a good thing for democracy in this country.

The thing that I find absolutely bizarre about the arguments we have heard in this place is the complete and utter inconsistency in the kind of scare campaigns that are being run by the Labor Party on this issue. Let's face it: these are the kinds of pathetic scare campaigns that would make Tony Abbott blush. They are completely and utterly inconsistent. Senator Conroy last week said that this is all about putting Greens bums on seats. We had Senator Brown say that this is about self-interest and power for the Greens. Senator Penny Wong, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, was quoted in the Adelaide Advertiser as saying that the Greens will in fact suffer as a result of these changes and may well lose seats. So apparently it is some kind of self-interested ploy that will also end up dudding us at the ballot box.

Let me make one thing very clear—and this will be a shock to the Labor Party, because I know that is not the model of politics they work with—this is not about self-interest or trying to achieve a particular election outcome. It is not about that. This is about doing the right thing and it is about ensuring that we have an election system that reflects the will of the people. It is a fundamental tenet of any democracy that the election outcome should reflect the will of the people. Let us be honest: the reason the Australian Labor Party keep fanning this ridiculous scare campaign about this issue is that they do not want to smash the business model of the faceless men they rely on for their seats in this place. They have talked a lot about backroom deals. Well, the only backroom deals they are really concerned about protecting are the backroom deals that get them into the Senate. They are scared of the Australian people and they realise they do not have the policies in place or the rigor in their ideological position to prosecute an effective case to the Australian people, so they want to protect these pathetic backroom deals.

There is a suggestion that the discussion around these issues is under some kind of veil of secrecy, when we have had debates in the lower house, debates here in the Senate, the JSCEM report and a long discussion in our community over many years—as I say, Senator Brown put this on the agenda 12 years ago. The suggestion that somehow this is being done under a cloak of secrecy is really absolutely ridiculous. Give us a break!

I talked about the inconsistent nature of the scare campaigns the Labor Party have been running: we win some seats, we lose some seats; on the one hand it is about self-interest and on the other hand it is electoral suicide. They cannot make up their minds about the implications of this reform. Also, up until very recently, the Labor Party were supportive of this change. I saw Gary Gray quoted in the media as saying that it would be very sad to see these reforms scuttled. Well, he must be pretty disappointed about the party that he is leaving behind and the ridiculous and embarrassing scare campaigns they are running against a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform our Senate voting system and finally ensure that the will of the Australian people is reflected at the ballot box. It is an important principle. It is a principle that we have been advocating for many years in this place and it is a principle that I, as a member of the Greens, am very proud to support.