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

Firstly, I'm very happy to note that Senator Patrick has confirmed that he supports this bill. He just thinks the bill doesn't go far enough. I see him nod. Hansard doesn't pick up a nod, so I'm happy to hear from his contribution that that is his position: he supports the bill but he thinks there should be other things in it. We're always happy to talk about what else can sensibly be done. The long-established process in our parliament to deal with matters on a non-partisan basis when it comes to all aspects of the conduct of elections is to do it through the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. We're always open to pursuing these matters.

Of course it's a longstanding practice for political parties, individual candidates and people from all backgrounds who want to seek public office. Campaigns have to be funded—and I think that's well understood—so funds have to be raised. There is a transparency and disclosure regime in place to ensure that that is done in an appropriate fashion. I'm aware of the fundraising activities of my party and I'm aware of the fundraising activities of other parties. I think it is a democratic right for individual Australians, including individual Australian businesses, to participate in and support the democratic process. In fact, I think you'll find that many businesses that participate in these sorts of events engage with politicians from all different sides of politics because they've got something that they want people to understand. Also, some people just happen to be strong Labor supporters, strong Liberal supporters, strong Nationals supporters or strong Centre Alliance supporters. I put it to you that every candidate and every party participating in an election has to be able to finance their participation at election. It's a very important part of the process. How else would we get our arguments in front of the Australian people to ensure they can make an informed decision?