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

Obviously, the government does not accept the closing assertion that Senator Leyonhjelm has made. The provision to allow parties to include a logo, at their discretion, in the relevant spot on the ballot paper is in order to avoid voter confusion between parties of similar names. I suspect that Senator Leyonhjelm might remember an instance where there was a level of confusion between parties of a similar name which might have created some benefit for him in the state of New South Wales!

The reason we are opposed to this amendment is that as it is currently written the bill allows for up to two logos to be printed adjacent to the square that is printed on the ballot paper where that group is endorsed by more than one political party. Having up to two logos on ballot papers will give voters sufficient opportunity to identify who they are voting for without cluttering the ballot paper and creating voter confusion. Going beyond two logos, which must be of uniform size, could create a situation where the ballot paper becomes, again, unnecessarily large and complex. The AEC has advised that since 2007 there have been no instances of three or more parties running as part of the same registered group in a federal election, which suggests that this amendment is clearly not necessary in practice. But, of course, we all understand the somewhat humorous political point that Senator Leyonhjelm sought to make.