Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

There have been a couple of issues raised today with regard to the Electoral and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017. In essence, I do agree with what Senator Di Natale has said; there should be truth in advertising. We've seen too many times over the years that lies have been put out in advertising by all political parties, but I've seen it mostly regarding the major political parties. The people of Australia are fed up with the lies that are being told. Voting is a very important issue for all Australians, because it will determine the future of this country and who will hold government and where the legislation will be made and how it will be passed. The people of Australia demand far better from all sides of politics, that we tell the truth when we are standing for parliament. Give the voters the opportunity to judge us on our merits, whether it be on policy or our credentials, or who we are as people representing them.

I also take the side of the argument that Senator Macdonald raised: if there are lies being put forward in a campaign with regard to Adani or the Great Barrier Reef, that needs to be up-front as well—and I totally agree. But if we go back to the last election, the Medicare scare and the text messages that were sent out—and just recently over the last weekend with regard to text messages supposedly coming from NRMAA, which was not correct—I think people expect far better. I'll also expand on this: a scare campaign and lies have already started in relation to Pauline Hanson's One Nation—the CFMEU are already putting out their scare campaign, lies and advertising, and it's not even an election.

If we expect people to be protected by legislation, any company that advertises a product must deliver what they are advertising. Why is it any different with political parties? If we expect the consumer to have a right to fair and decent products from a person or company selling that product, we should expect the same standards in the parliament and at elections.

Like I said, Pauline Hanson's One Nation will be supporting the Greens amendment to this bill. I think it needs to be reined in. I think there has to be accountability, and it's very important to the voters of this nation that we show leadership. If we expect others to abide by laws, we must also do it and at election time.

The fines that Senator Di Natale raised with regard to this, I think, are very minimal. When we are talking about millions and millions of dollars that can be gained—and it's around $50 to $60 million from political parties and electoral funding—paying out a $5,000 or a $25,000 fine is minuscule. There is a lot to be gained by political parties from their false advertising, when they can gain many, many votes and they can get people elected to parliament. Because the public have no understanding about what the real truth is, I think we should actually increase the fines and be very vigilant in making sure that whoever runs the parliament, whichever political party, is doing the right thing by the people.