Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I am really pleased to see this report being tabled and I support the recommendations in it subject to my additional comments in that report. The final JSCEM report repeats the recommendations of the interim report relating to transparency, truth and reducing money in politics. We have heard from the chair about the importance of those areas.

With the report finalised, it is now time for government to respond to this report. I introduced a private member's bill called the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Restoring Trust) Bill after the interim report. That contained 13 reforms that have the really broad support of the crossbench, academics, think tanks, civil society organisations and the community. It would be great to see the government responding to those proposed reforms in a timely fashion. A response is needed fairly quickly because, if we are going to have these new reforms in place in time for the next election, there needs to be time to develop those frameworks and ensure that political parties and others have time to make the necessary changes. So there is some urgency around it.

The government has said it wants consensus on electoral reform, but we have seen that the opposition is opposing transparency and truth in its dissenting comments and public statements and is also interested in designing caps that will prevent future competition in politics. This report talks about caps. The final report adds an exemption from caps for charities. On caps, design is really key. Caps can have the impact of locking in the major parties. No-one wants to see a billionaire swaying the outcome of an election. That has broad community support. The 99.6 per cent of Australians who are not a member of a major political party don't want to see a reform that locks in the two-party system.

So, really, now the government has a choice. It can work with the opposition in responding to this report and potentially make some compromises on transparency and truth, which the community really cares about, and also put in place a caps structure that will lock in that two-party system or it has the option of working with the crossbench and the Greens in both houses to come up with a package that meets community need and allows political competition. Communities will be watching very closely to see whether the purpose of any reform package is to embed the two-party system or reflect community concerns about transparency and truth and restoring trust in our electoral system by allowing political choice. I am glad to see this report being finalised and look forward to seeing the government responding to it in a timely fashion.

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