John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Of course the government minister in the chamber does not want to hear the truth about the way this government has forced undemocratic changes on electoral laws in this country. I will go through them: early closure of the electoral roll; greater, and unnecessary, identity requirements for those wanting to enrol; new requirements for provisional voters to prove their identity; and increasing the declarable limit for the disclosure of political donations from $1,500 to $10,000. Of course, another one of the Howard government’s attempts to restrict the democratic process in Australia, by taking the vote off all prisoners—not just those serving serious sentences but all prisoners—has just been found by the High Court of Australia to be unconstitutional.