Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to obviously support the government's position in relation to this important bill, the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016. As the minister has pointed out, it is necessary that people across electorates, including my electorate of Dickson, are given the opportunity to direct their vote in the way that they want. It is a complicated process in this country in terms of voting in the upper house, but it is a very important process and people want to know that they have the ability to know where their vote is going. There has been a lot of concern in Queensland, in particular, with the rise of Clive Palmer and the influence he has had over a number of senators—which has, of course, fallen away quite dramatically in recent months. It does concern voters in my electorate. In fact, on many occasions people have raised this concern with me and that is why I have strongly supported the work of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and note the recommendations of the committee.

I also pay tribute to Gary Gray. As he said, he was rolled by his own caucus on this but nonetheless he still provided support over a long period of time for significant and sensible change. On that basis I strongly support the bill before the House and I hope that at some point the Labor Party will see beyond their own political point-scoring in this matter and come together with the government, because a very significant effort is required to clean up this system and that is what the government is proposing here.

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