Anne McEwen SA, Australian Labor Party
4:07 pm
I seek to add the names of Senators Muir, Leyonhjelm, Lazarus, Madigan, Wang, Day and Lambie to the motion.
Anne McEwen SA, Australian Labor Party
At the request of the Senators Muir, Leyonhjelm, Lazarus, Madigan, Wang, Day, Lambie and also Senator Wong, I move:
That the provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016 be referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters for inquiry and report by 12 May 2016.
Mathias Cormann WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance
4:08 pm
I seek leave to make a brief statement.
Mathias Cormann WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance
The House of Representatives agreed on 22 February that the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016 would be referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and report by no later than 9 am on 2 March 2016. During its inquiry into the 2013 federal election, the Joint Standing Committee assessed in great detail many of the reforms that are proposed in this bill. It reported on these matters in its interim and final reports of 9 May 2014 and April 2015 respectively, and as a result the government believes that the reporting date agreed by the House will give the committee sufficient time to properly inquire into the reforms proposed in this bill.
Lee Rhiannon NSW, Australian Greens
This motion is another attempt to protect backroom deals to determine preference flows and to deny voters their rights to allocate preferences in line with their values. You do not need to join many dots to understand how deferring the reporting date by two months is designed to scuttle Senate voting reform. The senators involved in this motion would know that the Australian Electoral Commission needs many months to prepare new IT counting systems and to educate voters in the new system. That is urgent work. Many people have commented on the need for thorough education. Labor's pushing for a later reporting date shows that it will try every parliamentary trick in the book to knock off this important reform. This proposal should be reported in its original form—the reporting date was taken in a responsible way.
Stephen Parry President
The question is that notice of motion moved by Senator McEwen be agreed to.