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

Thank you chair. I was about to jump up and respond to these questions from Senator Collins, but I was very happy for Senator Wong to take the call first. Firstly, there is no internal inconsistency and there is no legal issue. There is nothing unusual about a relevant part of a bill having a different commencement date to other parts of a bill. This amendment that the Greens have moved has a revised commencement date for the revised Senate voting provisions, and that date is expressed such that the measures will not apply to a polling day before 1 July 2016. Such a commencement date arrangement is not unusual. There were several bills which passed in July 2010, during the period of the previous government, which were expressed to only apply for an election that would occur after the next election. The government is not aware of any legal issue whatsoever. A polling day is of course expressed in a writ. So just to make that clear again: the Greens amendment seeks to delay the commencement for a specific and relevant part of the Senate voting arrangements—for them not to apply to elections unless there are elections with a polling day after 1 July 2016. But it does enable the AEC to begin preparatory work before that date, if required. That is, of course, what we would want them to be able to do. That is a completely routine arrangement in legislation of this sort.