Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet) Share this | Hansard source

ON (—) (): I thank the member for her question. The government does not support the AEC playing a role in relation to political advertisements. The AEC has committed to a Stop and Consider awareness campaign, which will be further implemented in the next election, as it has been implemented in previous by-elections in Eden-Monaro and Groom.

Federal elections are a contest of ideas, and the 2016 joint standing committee report into the 2016 election considered these provisions. It recommended that further amendments be made to the authorisation provisions. That has occurred, and this government has delivered upon them so that voters can clearly identify the source of the political information that they are receiving in electoral contexts.

Those opposite, and the member for Warringah, want to pursue a piece of legislation that will politically involve the Australian Electoral Commission in being an arbiter in relation to electoral advertising. That is an inappropriate role for the Australian Electoral Commission, and this government does not support that.

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