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

The government will be opposing this amendment. This amendment will provide electoral funding to any group of Senate candidates who received votes at an election, and removes the four per cent first-preferences threshold that is currently required to be met before receiving public funding. It will also provide different levels of funding between candidates for the House of Representatives and for the Senate, creating a potentially discriminatory disparity that does not currently exist. It is not justifiable that minor parties that spend little or no money on elections should profit simply by nominating a group for the Senate and not reaching the four per cent funding threshold. Indeed, we do not want to provide an additional perverse incentive for people to nominate for a Senate election for the sole purpose of generating some public funding support. The government will not be supporting this amendment.