Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is nothing more important in a democracy than people's confidence in the result of an election. There is nothing more important than people having confidence that the government is there to represent them and that the election results are from a fair and honest process. It is vital for trust, it is vital for investment, it is vital for the future and it is vital for the future of our governance and our sovereignty. There is nothing more important.

Before turning to Senator Pocock's disallowance motion, I want to say that today I moved motion No. 51. It was very simple: that there be laid on the table by the Special Minister of State by no later than 9.30 am on 27 October 2022 any reports, briefing notes, file notes and emails of 13 December 2021 or later held by the Australian Electoral Commission that relate to compliance with sections 273AA and 273AC of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 which relate to the security of computer systems and ballot paper sampling for a Senate election. That was opposed by the Liberal Party. That was opposed by the Labor Party. That was opposed by the Nationals. That was opposed by the Greens. I will speak more about that in a minute.

The minister, Senator McAllister, talks about mountains of paper. Really? Let me tell you about a mountain of paper in a motel in Port Macquarie after the most recent federal election. Someone from out of town came and stayed in that motel and they found, in the wastepaper basket, ballot papers from the seat of Paterson, the next electorate. There were mountains of paper. We cannot trust our election process. We have holes in our election process everywhere: electronically, paper-wise, scrutineering—everywhere.

In the last parliament, I introduced legislation requiring an election audit. Our federal elections have never ever been audited. How can people have faith in that? Go onto any social media site—people are crying out that they don't trust the election results. When I introduced that legislation, the Liberals opposed it, Labor opposed it, the Greens opposed it, and the Nationals opposed it. Fortunately, Ben Morton was the minister assisting the Prime Minister, and he approached us and said that, now that he knew where we were, he wanted to introduce similar legislation. He reintroduced it with two or three minor changes. We helped him do it, and it passed the Senate. It came into being. The Australian Electoral Commission was then required to do an audit of the last federal election in the weeks leading up to the election and in the weeks after the election. That meant auditing the process for the election, the results and whether or not the processes were complied with. But the Australian Electoral Commission, despite that clear instruction in the legislation from the people, did not properly audit that election. Yet they claim they did. Now we have the Liberals, Labor, the Nationals and the Greens wanting to hide their donations.

In the last federal election, Labor got less than one-third of the votes, but they're forming government. The Liberal and National parties got 34 per cent. One-third of the people in the last election did not vote for Labor, the Liberals or the Nationals. But the mouthpiece media is on the side of the Liberals, Labor and the Nationals, and they're hiding the truth. People need to see the truth. We will continue chasing an audit that's done properly, and we need to shine a light on the truth. That's why I'm supporting Senator Pocock's disallowance motion—to give the people the details. We are servants to the people who are the citizens of this country; we serve them. They deserve to know the details of the spending. As Senator Rennick pointed out, it's their money, and I want to make sure that they get those details. We will be supporting Senator Pocock's motion.