Andrew Murray (WA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

As members of the chamber know, I have some considerable experience of the world, having lived on three continents. If I were to think of the issue which exercises the minds of people involved in the democratic process, on any continent in the world, it is that elections should be free and fair. From the riots and the sheer turmoil that accompany the worst examples of elections that are not free and fair, to the countries that have the quietest and most orderly democratic elections, amongst which Australia is numbered, the freeness and fairness of elections is an issue. It is not good enough for us to think that the issue raised by the Australian Greens does not warrant proper attention in Australia.

I think of Senator McCain in the United States who is of such stature that he could be a credible challenger for the very top job in that country. He built much of his campaign platform on the issue of electoral reform and more free and fair elections. One of the key things that he and many American legislators, academics, commentators, media and the community at large have focused on is the issue of improper or corrupt activity by third parties in elections. The issue is not whether third parties should have the opportunity to express an opinion. That is not an issue at all. In our country in the last year there was a businessman—I think he was a Western Australian businessman—who got right up the nose of the government, amongst others, by running a series of expensive television advertisements about East Timor and the negotiations on the oil matters there. But it was very clear who he was, what his program was and where his money came from. It was up front. Whether you agree or disagree with his point of view, it was part of the—