Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak briefly on the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Political Campaigners) Bill 2021. I do so because it introduces a number of important reforms to help enhance transparency and accountability in our democracy. It ensures that significant political actors, and political actors that incur electoral expenditure representing a significant component of the organisation's activity, are subject to requirements that more closely align with existing duties for candidates, parliamentarians and political parties. These new requirements will require individuals and organisations to register with the Australian Electoral Commission as political campaigners if they incur over $100,000 in electoral expenditure in a financial year. They will also apply if electoral expenditure is in excess of $14,500 in a financial year where it is more than a third of that individual's or organisation's annual revenue. These measures do not place an unreasonable regulatory or administrative burden on those affected, as they're already subject to mandatory disclosure obligations as a third party under the electoral act or are required to make such disclosures if similar electoral expenditure is incurred.

The amendments are in response to recommendation 18 of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters report on the conduct of the 2019 election. This report found that Australia's electoral system remained in good health but identified room for improvement in some areas of the voting process. The Australian Electoral Commission gave evidence that it administers a voting service that is one of the fairest, most open and accessible in the world, and that the election was participated in by a record number of Australians, with 96.8 per cent enrolled to vote. This indicates a very high level of confidence in the health of our voting system. However, without continued reform, the system can quickly become outdated and fail to meet the needs of a modern democracy. Certainly, over the last couple of election cycles that I've been involved in as a candidate and member, I have seen the need for emerging reforms such as these.

That need is why this bill calls for enhanced transparency and accountability that will help level the playing field so that organisations established to campaign for or in conjunction with political parties are not exempt from public scrutiny. These organisations are entitled to communicate views and to support whoever they wish. In fact, it's important that they contribute to public debate and is an important part of enriching our democracy with varying views and perspectives. At the same time, if they're going to campaign in a way that is similar to political parties, they should be subject to some level of reporting and disclosure requirements. Without this, there is a two-tiered system of accountability.

The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters report also highlighted numerous incidences of abusive and unacceptable behaviour throughout the election campaign period which put workers, volunteers and those intending to vote at risk. It outlined that some members of parliament experienced some pretty horrific and obscene personal abuse, including stalking and harassment of a female candidate and anti-Semitic vandalism. This simply is not good enough. We really should be able to disagree respectfully and without resorting to violence or abuse or threats. I'm speaking on this legislation because, although I haven't spoken publicly about my experiences as a marginal seat candidate, I have had a number of personal experiences dealing with some members of organisations, affiliated with my opponents, that campaigned very strongly—and in many instances personally—against me. While I welcome democracy, there really is a fundamental fine line between healthy campaigning and the contest of ideas and personal abuse and insults.

The seat of Robertson is a marginal seat and it's one that my team and I and my volunteers expect will be hotly contested at a federal election. Political parties and many affiliated organisations devote a significant amount of resources to compete, and my volunteers, supporters and I have become very accustomed to seeing large numbers of individuals from many different organisations, including the unions, GetUp!, other political campaigns and of course some supporters of independent candidates on polling booths. We appreciate that supporters of the opposition have a right to express their views and campaign for their chosen candidate. However, there has been some behaviour by those affiliated with opponents in my electorate that, quite frankly, has been disgusting and unacceptable.

I can recall many, many instances of this, most of which are not fit to put on the public record, so vile and abhorrent were the actions and the behaviour of some of these individuals. But one that I can recall which is perhaps a little less offensive is an individual in a red shirt standing at Woy Woy pre-poll during the last federal election campaign in 2019 who began calling me a number of highly derogatory, offensive and very personal names and began using very inappropriate language in front of a whole range of people on the street. Even after being asked to stop, this individual continued a verbal tirade of abuse against me in front of a number of local stakeholders, including the prominent president of a local community group, who also stepped in and asked that he stop. He sneered when called out. He said he had a right to do this and that I had no right to be respected and I deserved no dignity or protection from verbal abuse, because of my beliefs. That is not democracy. That is absolutely not something that anyone in this parliament should condone or accept.

What may have been dismissed as poor behaviour by one individual became more significant given that, when it was called out, several opposition organising representatives were present but said nothing, did nothing and looked the other way—which has become all too common an occurrence time after time after time. In doing so, they were actually condoning this behaviour and they sent a clear message that volunteers were free to treat my volunteers and me in whatever way they chose, simply because they did not agree with what we were putting forward for the election. That is one example of many that I can recall from the election. Many are, frankly, too graphic or vile to raise in this chamber, as I've said before, and I will not be doing so.

I do believe that, in this country, we have a right to freedom of speech, but I also believe that we ought to have accountability and responsibilities as well. As representatives of political parties in a democracy like Australia, we really must hold ourselves to a very high standard and demonstrate respect for each other, be that in polling booths, at other events in the electorate or, indeed, in the parliament. Without this basic respect, our society can quickly become divided, and we as leaders have an obligation to ensure that this does not happen.

The bill before the House introduces a number of reforms to enhance transparency and accountability in our electoral system. These amendments help ensure that those involved in the political processes are subject to public scrutiny and accountability—the hallmarks of a healthy democracy. I certainly hope that this bill goes some way towards improving some of the horrendous behaviour that we unfortunately experienced personally in my electorate and that was experienced in many other electorates in the 2019 election. We must continue the process of reform to ensure a fair and just electoral system for generations to come. It is on that basis that I commend this bill to the House.

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