Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The amendments before the Senate went through all of the proper processes. I am happy to confirm that, and I am also happy to refer Senator Collins to the revised explanatory memorandum for the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016, which again confirms:

The Bill—

which is the bill before the Senate—

responds to key elements of the first interim report and the final report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) inquiry into the 2013 Federal Election, which were tabled on 9 May 2014, and 15 April 2015, respectively.

In relation to the matter of principle about whether or not the government would consider taking on board the suggestion that had been made by a range of stakeholders to also make some improvements to the voting arrangements for voting below the line, as I have indicated, we started some consideration within government in relation to these matters as a result of the evidence that was provided at the hearing, and subsequently, after the report was tabled, the government made a formal decision. That decision has since been reflected in amendments which I believe were circulated in the Senate on the Thursday. I believe that the 2016 report by JSCEM was tabled just after nine on the Wednesday, and by Thursday afternoon the government had circulated some amendments, having taken the in-principle decision that we would adopt the view of many and the recommendation that was reflected in the JSCEM report that there should be relevant improvements to below-the-line voting arrangements, which we have adopted.