Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Of course, where there are some variables in any election, final costings have to be done following the votes of the people. You can't provide funding for a particular vote until you know exactly how many Australians have voted in a particular election. While I wish we had 100 per cent turnout, unfortunately, that's still a goal to which we aspire. I note that the only uncapped proposal of the nature which the member just refers to that's been put to the House is, in fact, her own proposal, which had administrative funding provided to every person who is a candidate.

If you were to provide administrative funding to every person who is a candidate, which was the proposal put in the second reading amendment by the member for Warringah, that would mean that, simply by nominating yourself—it's a great return on investment—and paying your $2,000 nomination fee, you'd get $30,000 under that proposal. If we went on the numbers of the last election, that would be $36 million paid to people just for being a candidate. While I hope that no-one would nominate to be candidate in the interests of financial reward, but instead would do it out of an interest in public service, I would fear that, under the member's proposal, you'd probably have more than those 1,203 candidates for the House of Representatives that we saw at the 2022 election. That is why the government did not support that amendment.

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