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

The government's bill already extends the authorisation of electoral matters to include bulk voice calls for the first time. In fact, that is one of the key features of the legislation in front of us. The bill allows the Electoral Commissioner, by legislative instrument, to determine further requirements in relation to the particulars announced as part of the authorisation. This allows the Electoral Commissioner to update requirements in response to changing circumstances and new technology and ensures the requirements are appropriate for the medium used to communicate the message. While it would ultimately be a matter for the commissioner, the logical place for the authorisation of such communication is, in our view, at the start of a call, but that is not something that the parliament needs to get itself involved in. We should leave that to the independent judgement of the Electoral Commissioner, as is the case in relation to authorisation arrangements and particulars of authorisation requirements more generally.

In just picking up on the point that Senator Xenophon has made about empowering the voter, the voter is, of course, empowered. The recipient of any phone call is able to hang up at any time. We don't believe it is necessary to amend the bill to require the recipient of a bulk voice call to take necessary steps in order for the call to proceed. We would encourage anyone who receives a phone call in relation to a political communication that they don't approve of to just hang up. For these reasons, the government does not support this amendment at this time.