Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

The definition of 'relevant expenditure' relies on the existing definitions in the electoral law of 'electoral expenditure'. So the definitions of 'electoral matter 'and 'electoral expenditure' are pre-existing definitions. Really, what this clarifies is that any campaign donations for federal matters or federal expenditure—election related expenditure and electoral matters—ought to be governed by this federal Electoral Act, whereas state elections ought to be governed by the state electoral acts.

I also don't accept that this is something that has come out of the nowhere. This was unanimously passed in 2018 in a much broader set of arrangements. There was a process leading up to this. This has been with the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters since the middle of 2019. There's been a lot of work done through the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is recommending that this proceed based on relevant amendments which the government and the opposition will be moving. This is an issue that's been around for a long time. It is simple housekeeping. The basic proposition which is eminently reasonable is that federal law should govern the conduct of federal elections and state law should govern the conduct of state elections.