Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Again, I am happy to acknowledge your interjection. But how deeply divided Labor are on this! It is really extraordinary. Look at what their own leader, Mr Shorten, had to say when questioned just this week about this very issue. He was asked the question, 'What would you do if you win the election?' He said that he appreciated being asked if he would win the election—he thought that was good. The actual question, so we can be exact, was:

Given that you have problems with that—

meaning Senate voting reform—

if it does pass and you do win Government, will you repeal or amend it?

It was a simple question. Mr Shorten said:

In terms of what we do after the election, we accept that the system, if it gets changed, has been changed, we’ll see how it works.

I acknowledge that he goes on to be critical of the system, but he says it there, 'we accept the system, if it gets changed, has been changed, we'll see how it works'.

And he is not alone. Remember Mr Faulkner? Former Senator Faulkner's comments on this are very informative. When he spoke in this chamber about this very issue in response to the report from the JSCEM recommending Senate voting reform he said:

In practice, this will mean that the voters themselves will control the candidates and party groups who get their vote and their preferences. … I would say that this reform is uncontroversial and it is certainly overdue.

Those were his words, and back then he was speaking for Labor. I notice that Senators Conroy, Dastyari and Wong, with all their vicious words, are not down here doing any of their heavy lifting. But at the time, Senator Faulkner spoke for Labor and he spoke for Labor very clearly.