Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Public Accountability and Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I know my colleague the shadow minister for the environment will be interested in an article by Richard Baker in the Age last year which referred to donations to the Liberal and National parties from BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Woodside Western Mining and WesFarmers of $1.69 million, to state and federal coalition parties, accompanied by statements by various of those companies, such as Rio Tinto and Alcoa arguing against emissions trading; BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto saying that it was premature to commit to an emissions trading regime; and Exxon Mobil saying that investments in current renewable energy technology were not economical et cetera.

We know that this is a government that has refused to take the issue of global warming and climate change seriously, notwithstanding its devastating effects both now and in the future on Australia. For example, in North Queensland we have just seen the severity of Cyclone Larry. We have heard the stories about the bleaching of the Barrier Reef, and throughout the rest of Australia we have the prospect of droughts, bushfires, storms and the like. Notwithstanding that, we have a government that refuses to take seriously the matters which could be done to deal with these problems through international action to tackle climate change, such as ratifying the Kyoto protocol on climate change, the introduction of emissions trading and support for renewable energy. None of those things has happened, and Australia has been lagging behind international practice and not taking climate change seriously. When you see some of the donations that have been reported from various companies which are opposed to these measures, there is certainly a case for undue influence.

There is a range of other measures in this bill which others have spoken to—in particular, there is great community concern about the attack on young people implicit in the changes to the close of the rolls period after the writs are issued. The deputy school captain from Mercy College in my electorate, Gail Garcia, said:

It seems to me that under the new legislation more people would be compelled to enrol to vote quickly, which is an inconvenience. Most people don’t want to be pushed. They do want to vote but they have severe time constraints. A lot of teenagers are interested in politics and voting but they’re always going to put VCE first.

It is clear to her and it is clear to many other people in my electorate that this amounts to an attack on young people. So I strongly support, and I urge the House to support, the amendment to the second reading moved by my colleague the member for Bruce, which suggests that we not support this bill until the undemocratic provisions which reduce the period of time Australians have to enrol to vote— (Time expired)

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