Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition will not be supporting Senator Fielding’s amendment, but I will say that Senator Fielding has obviously raised an issue that needs to be discussed at some length in this campaign finance reform process. I would have preferred that discussion to take place in the context of that process, but I can understand that Senator Fielding has been moved to do that because the Labor Party themselves have not, in my view, done the right thing with the deductibility bill. That should also have been part of this wide discussion.

Back in March of last year, Senator Fielding supported the coalition motion on a reference to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. Part of that was the appropriateness of current levels of public funding provided for political parties and candidates contesting federal elections. This is a debate that has to be had and it should not be done in isolation. It should be in toto. I agreed with Senator Ludlam when he said that this is just the start of the process. The coalition believes absolutely that this is just the start of the process. It needs a commonsense approach to an issue that the Australian community believes is a serious one, and quite rightly so. It will require the goodwill of everyone in this place. In fact, we are charged with the responsibility of putting in place a campaign finance reform proposal that restores some faith in the process to the Australian community and provides a workable solution to an issue that I think is of concern.