Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

At your direction, sir: I think it is fair to say that today imprisonment is a serious sanction, increasingly reserved for crimes of violence and serious offences. Believe me, just because you have not been jailed and you walk the streets of this country does not mean that you are part of a government authorised elite. Senator Carr walks this country, and he is not part of a government authorised elite.

In conclusion, I mentioned five points that this bill covers. It was exhaustively examined by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and then again by the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee. All these issues are important. They do make fairly significant changes to the Commonwealth Electoral Act—in particular, the proof of identity requirements should have happened a long time ago. This change and others in the bill make further improvements to Australia’s electoral laws, particularly in the areas of enrolment and political disclosure. The changes are entirely justified and, in many cases, were very much overdue. The bill will strengthen Australia’s electoral system and the underpinnings of our democracy.