Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think it is a matter of legitimate inquiry for this parliament as to the circumstances in which electoral fraud occurs when we have before us a piece of legislation about whether there ought to be changes to the procedures which today are designed to protect against electoral fraud with regard to governance in relation to the electoral roll. It is a matter of the highest relevance to that important public policy question that we ask ourselves what circumstances there might be in which electoral fraud has been committed in the past, what might be the motivations of the other side of the House in putting forward this legislation and what interest has been demonstrated by very senior members of this government—ministers in this government—in the career of individuals who may have been involved in that kind of deeply regrettable behaviour.

As I come to look at this piece of legislation, to weigh up my responsibility as a member of this House and to assess the wisdom of what has been proposed in the legislation brought forward by the government, the conclusion I reach is that it is unwise in the extreme to vary the present balance which applies between those two competing considerations: on the one hand, maximising democratic participation in the election process and giving as many Australians as possible the capacity to vote and, on the other hand, the importance of protecting the electoral roll and maximising the protection against the capacity for fraud.

What we have seen and what I was shocked to discover as I read the Shepherdson inquiry report is that there are examples on the very recent public record of fraudulent behaviour when it comes to electoral rolls and they involve a whole range of people who are cited in that report including Mr Mike Kaiser. It seems the present Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy, has a solicitous interest in the furtherance of Mr Kaiser’s career. I think that the public policy questions that raises are significant and weighty indeed. What we have seen is that there is regrettably—if that inquiry is to be believed and I see no reason why it ought not be believed—a culture of cavalier disregard for the legal regime governing the application of the electoral roll. In the face of that tangible, recent and thoroughly troubling evidence of such culture, it is no surprise that, on this side of the House, we view with a considerable degree of scepticism the proposal that is being put forward for a change to the timing of the closure of the roll. (Time expired)

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