Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Report on the 2007 federal election—events in the division of Lindsay. In reflecting on the incident in general, I concur with the view of the then Prime Minister, John Howard, at the National Press Club on 22 November 2007. He stated:

I condemn what happened. It was an unauthorised document, it does not represent my views, it was tasteless and offensive. There are many, there are myriad legitimate criticisms that can be made of the Australian Labor Party, but I do not believe that the Australian Labor Party has ever had any sympathy for the Bali bombers and I thought it was an outrageous thing to say. That’s my view, I think the party organisation has dealt with it with lightning speed and great effectiveness.

In my view, this report on that incident—which was a most unfortunate incident—presents an exhaustive and factual approach to the issue. I am grateful to the chairman, in particular, and other members of the committee for the approach that was taken. As well, it importantly reviews the adequacy of the penalty provisions in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 in light of the events that occurred on the evening of 20 November 2007 that led to five people being charged with breaching the act. The actions of those individuals were totally unacceptable and reprehensible but I think in no way reflective of the Liberal Party, its members, supporters and candidates at large. Those events did, however, bring into focus the inadequacy of the penalties, as set out in section 328 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, for breaching the act’s guidelines. The current penalties are $1,000 for an individual and $5,000 for a body corporate for non-compliance. Opposition members and senators agree that these penalties, which have not been updated since 1983, are inadequate and act as an insufficient deterrence. In addition to this, opposition members support recommendation 2 of this report. It states:

The committee recommends that section 328 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 be redrafted as a strict liability offence, and the maximum penalties be 60 penalty units for an individual and 300 penalty units for a body corporate.

These increased penalty units currently equate to $6,600 for an individual and $33,000 for a body corporate. We believe these increased penalties and the offence being redrafted as a strict liability offence strike the right balance. As the report states:

In the future, party member or non-aligned persons should think very carefully about the ramifications of undertaking the illegal practice of distributing unauthorised election material.

These penalties do represent, in my view, a significant deterrence and if properly understood and made known by all parties to people associated with their party will act as a significant deterrence and strike the right balance. In brief, recommendation 1 of the report states:

The … amending legislation—

with assistance from the Attorney-General, should use—

the schedule provided by the Australian Electoral Commission … as a guide.

The … Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 should be updated—

accordingly, and—

The … amending legislation—

be put—

to the committee so that it can conduct a bills inquiry …

Recommendation 3 states:

The … Australian Electoral Commission should, at the next federal election, record all polling booth offences that are reported, the actions that were taken and provide an appraisal of the adequacy of the powers under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to deal with polling place offences.

Opposition members support both these recommendations. Finally, I would like to add my thanks to my committee colleagues and, in particular, the chairman, the member for Banks, for the approach taken. Also, I would like to thank the committee secretariat and those organisations and individuals who prepared submissions and appeared as witnesses before the committee.

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