Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to put on the record my remarks on what is, in my view, a mistitled piece of legislation before the chamber this morning—the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016—which would be better called the 'dirty deal between the Liberals and the Greens party bill', because that is what is really being discussed here this morning.

For those in this country who live great lives and do not pay 100 per cent attention to the way the Senate works and the way Senate inquiries work, it is important to put some context around what is going on here. To give an example, one of the committees I sit on is the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. We are inquiring into loans that have been impaired, which means that the banks have taken over loans and people have lost their property. That is a very important issue, and we are taking it very seriously. We have had to my knowledge at least six or seven—it is probably more—whole-day hearings that have been held around the country to give Australians the chance to put on the record important matters that relate to loans and banks. That is an important matter but, by comparison to the matter that is being pushed through the Senate right now, that simply pales into insignificance. What is being pushed through this chamber is a deal between the Greens and the Liberals—and it is epitomised by a deep and meaningful conversation going on between the Liberal Minister for Finance and the person who is leading the discussion for the Greens, Senator Rhiannon. The dealing is going on as we speak.

What I really want people to understand is that the reality of that sort of conversation that is going on means that there is going to be no set of six or 10 hearings around this matter which is, as Senator Brown has said, the biggest change that has happened to the way Australians vote in 30 years. Let us get some perspective here: the biggest change in 30 years about the way Australians are going to vote without any proper inquiry or proper process—it is not even good enough to get a hearing in every state or capital city. Let's just push it through and have a pretend game of an inquiry—that is what has happened today in this building. Today democracy got dudded in this building by the coalition government in cahoots with the Greens—they did a deal and they held the most embarrassing sham of an inquiry this morning. On that committee Labor was represented very ably by Senator Conroy, Senator Jacinta Collins and Senator Brown, but they were subjected to the chairing of Mr Coleman. A number members from the Liberals and Greens were also there, as were a few independents who tried to put their views, but the committee was dominated by Liberals and Greens. Mr Coleman as chair used all his excellent skills in trying to keep the debate civil, but the reality was that it started at 8.15 and it finished at 12 o'clock.