Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I received a letter from one of my constituents in which he complained that he had received notification from an organisation called the Liberal Democratic Party that he was an honorary member of that party. It also said, ‘If you are contacted by the Australian Electoral Commission and asked to confirm your membership, please do so.’ This came as a considerable surprise to my constituent, who informed me that he has been voting Labor for 50 years and is looking forward to voting for me later this year.

It is an outrage that a political party would seek to put somebody on its membership roll without consultation with that person. That person has no intention of becoming a member of any political party, let alone the Liberal Democratic Party. This morning I looked on the Liberal Democratic Party’s website and found that they are a libertarian party. It is not very libertarian to make somebody a member of that political party without asking what their intentions are. I have today written to the Australian Electoral Commission—and members opposite might think it is a light matter that somebody has been placed on the roll of a political party without their knowledge or permission, but I do not—complaining about this tactic. I call on the Liberal Democratic Party to cease this tactic. Putting people on your membership rolls without their permission or their knowledge is not an acceptable method to ensure your continued registration as a political party.

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