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

I thank Senator Hanson for raising what is a real and genuine issue. We do support the introduction of voter identification. This bill does not introduce voter identification, but we do support it. And it's good to know that One Nation, if a relevant piece of legislation was coming forward in the future, would be supportive of that. Obviously, we would need to convince some others in this chamber that this is a meritorious reform before we would be able to get it through the parliament. Multiple voting has been a longstanding risk that all electoral systems face, and the government welcomes constructive ideas like this one to address this problem. Voter identification forms, though, will require legislation. Some parties in the parliament have voiced stringent opposition to such proposals in the past. So, I guess the reason we are prioritising what can sensibly be done is that we recognise where the political realities are in the Senate at present.