David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I will respond to those remarks from Senator Fifield. Obviously, in considering the amendments set out on sheet 7044, the government opposes those amendments. We oppose those amendments on the basis that we have received legal advice on the international law aspects of this proposal from the Attorney-General's Department. That advice states that limiting the right to vote in the way envisaged by these opposition amendments would 'not be objective, reasonable or proportionate' according to the standards of international law in this area. That advice concludes that such a ban would be unlikely to comply with Australia's human rights obligations. We think that the formula found in the bill is an appropriate balance between the right of persons to vote and persons in custodial sentences forfeiting that right.