Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition will not be supporting these amendments. Labor is open to increasing the penalties for electoral offences. In fact, we will be moving our amendments of our own to achieve this outcome. However, we believe that any increases must be the product of careful analysis and consideration.

I will make that point about JSCEM again. The process that has occurred in relation to this bill has much broader implications that have been highlighted on at least four occasions during the consideration of other proposals that have been put forward in amendments. Each time I get to indicate that JSCEM might be the appropriate body to look further at those suggestions, I now need to pause because of the way the government and the Greens, to further this deal, used what had previously been a bipartisan approach to electoral matters. That is the difficulty of what has occurred for the consideration of this legislation. That is the difficulty with the Greens attending the committee inquiry and voting with the government to block even the department from appearing before that inquiry.

The implications, though, go well beyond this bill. The implications go to the principles of transparency and accountability across the parliament. So each time I say that, for instance on this occasion, Senator Muir is making a worthwhile proposal that warrants further consideration, we now need to contemplate where such consideration might best occur, whereas previously it would have gone to JSCEM without question.

The increases proposed by Labor are drawn from the legislation we introduced when in government, which was blocked by the coalition. These penalty increases were the product of expert advice from the public service and from consultation and parliamentary scrutiny. Labor therefore believes that our proposals are more solid and we prefer our own amendments to those of Senator Muir. That said, I would like to acknowledge his genuine interest and engagement in this process.