Dio Wang (WA, Palmer United Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016. Ever since the coalition leadership change, the government has been very keen to claim it is a 21st-century government that is agile and nimble and embraces disruptive technology, but the government's behaviour in relation to Senate voting reform in recent weeks has been in stark contrast to these claims. Let me be crystal clear: the bill in front of us today is not a genuine and legitimate reform. It is nothing more than a Senate restructure, because, simply put, this bill does nothing more than make sure that small political parties face an even greater hurdle to be elected. It does nothing more than make sure that the one-quarter of voters who chose not to vote for the coalition, the Labor Party and the Greens cannot be represented in the Senate.

It is okay for the government on one hand to argue that media reform is needed so that media companies can embrace new technologies and take steps to be competitive. Yet, on the other hand, when faced with a growing number of disillusioned voters, this so-called 21st-century government chooses to resort to 20th-century trickery. I am afraid that unfortunately the coalition has no clue at all on how to deal with those more than three million discontented voters, so, instead of trying to be a more competitive political party by listening to the people and representing them better, the coalition along with the Greens and Senator Xenophon have formed a union to entrench their own political domination by eliminating their competitors—the crossbench.

If the same logic had been applied to the media landscape, the then Minister for Communications, now Prime Minister Turnbull, would have proposed a media reform package that could be summarised as follows: competition is bad; newcomers are bad; online news, social media, online streaming and so on all represent serious competition to our traditional media; therefore, they must all be banned. In fact, while they are at it, why not ban the internet altogether? There would be no NBN at all. It has given the government too much grief anyway! The obvious hypocrisy here is that this government likes to tell others to embrace competition and to be more competitive, but when it finds itself exposed to new political forces its only approach is to get rid of its rivals.

I was very puzzled at why the coalition would do a deal with the Greens and Senator Xenophon, after having a look at the Senate voting records, which confirm that the crossbench senators have been more constructive and more balanced than the Greens and Senator Xenophon. Without the Palmer United Party, Australia would still have a carbon tax and a mining tax. Without us, Australians, when they get sick, would right now be paying a GP co-payment.

Debate interrupted.