Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise today to contribute to the debate on the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022. Constitutional change, no matter how minuscule, must be carefully considered but must also be based on extensive research and consultation. The coalition worked hard to promote electoral change and update related legislation in a measured and balanced manner during its term. But we knew any reforms made would pave the way for future changes. Australia's Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act has not been used since 1999 and, as a result, has not kept pace with the successive changes we have made to the Electoral Act.

As a member of the JSCEM committee at the time, I was involved in the inquiry into the 2019 federal election, and I am also familiar with the committee's 2013 and 2016 inquiries. Recommendations from these inquiries resulted in numerous changes to the Electoral Act, and this bill will extend those changes within a referendum context. Recent electoral reform included changes to the way elections are conducted during emergencies, which proved necessary for elections conducted at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes were also made to the electoral authorisations required for material produced by political parties and entities as well as on foreign interference through donations. These reforms were developed to retain public trust in our electoral process and strengthen electoral legislation.

Now it is time to reform the referendum act and bring it into the 21st century. The changes proposed in this bill will modernise postal voting, vote sorting and counting in referendums by bringing the referendum act in line with the same processes and efficiencies around federal elections introduced by the former coalition government. The bill reforms proposed here will also increase transparency by updating authorisation requirements and amending financial disclosure and foreign donation restriction frameworks. Additionally, contingency measures have been incorporated to modify some aspects of referenda that are held during a declared emergency.

However, when the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters held the inquiry into this bill it was rushed to completion over Christmas and the new year. The short time frame of just weeks made it difficult for members and stakeholders to scrutinise witnesses and the proposed legislation. In its submission to the committee inquiry, national representative organisation Blind Citizens Australia said this bill was introduced without consulting those within the blind and vision impaired community. Further, their submission noted only two weeks were allowed for consultation on this legislation. The organisation said:

We believe this failure to consult risks disenfranchising our community and excludes our voices from the electoral process, during a potentially once-in-a-generation vote of nation shaping consequence.

On top of the concern about the short consultation period, Blind Citizens Australia pointed out the lack of technology assisted voting options outlined within the bill, like human assisted telephone voting, which has been available for voting in federal elections for the past decade. Additionally, there is no provision for voters who are blind or vision impaired to request a postal ballot in a braille or large-print format. Legislation like we are discussing now presents an opportunity for us as policymakers to create laws that meet the voting needs of all Australians. We must not rush such important change. We should be conducting a proper consultation process to ensure all voices are heard.

The coalition has raised three major points with the Labor government about this bill, which we believe will address our concerns on the proposed referendum process. These points are simple but important. We ask the government to: provide an information pamphlet that outlines the cases for 'yes' and 'no'; establish official 'yes 'and 'no' campaign organisations; and appropriately and equally fund those organisations. These three measures are fundamental to a referendum where the electorate is informed, and they will contribute to a process that has integrity. Those of us who have participated in referenda before will remember it was these points that formed the basis on which they operated, and it is this process we understand.

Section 11 of the current referendum act requires an official pamphlet containing arguments for and against the referendum proposal be prepared and distributed to households by the Electoral Commission at least 14 days before the voting day. This requirement was first introduced in 1912, more than 100 years ago. As you have heard from earlier speakers, there have only been three occasions since 1912 where a referendum was held with no information pamphlet issued. They were in 1919, 1926 and 1928. From this, we can conclude Australians have received information pamphlets at all referenda held since 1928. Such a document is even mentioned in the AEC's fact sheet explaining the referendum process, stating:

The Australian Electoral Commission prints and distributes an information leaflet to voters outlining the proposed alterations and the 'yes' and 'no' cases

Referendum pamphlets are consistent with the Australians' expectations. Why would we not proceed on the same basis with this and future referendums?

I welcome the recent announcement by the Labor government to restore the 'yes' and 'no' information pamphlet. Such a pamphlet will give all Australians an official source of information on the question being asked at the referendum and is an important step in countering misinformation. Indeed, Professor Anne Twomey, AO, who has worked as a solicitor, a parliamentary researcher and as secretary to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, told the committee inquiry that not allowing information pamphlets to be produced would create a vacuum for misinformation and a free-for-all on the internet, encouraging bizarre views out there to be given some level of legitimacy. These comments came from someone who has practised law, who has worked within our senate committee system and is as an expert in constitutional law. Arguably, she understands the legal and social implications of such decisions well.

The coalition is also concerned about the government's decision not to create official 'yes' and 'no' campaign entities. Again, this has been standard practice during past referenda, so why change something we understand? Official campaign entities reduce the chance of proxy organisations claiming to be official bodies during the campaign, like we have already seen multiple times in public media coverage of this referendum. This situation calls the integrity of the referendum process into question, detracting from the debate about the actual issue. Additionally, official campaigns provide a starting point for the AEC in its coordination of education for those participating in the referendum campaign.

The government's decision not to provide public funding for either the 'yes' or 'no' campaign risks creating a situation where there is a dependence on private funding from those with vested interests. Obviously, interested parties could dominate debate for their chosen campaign, colouring public discourse on the topic and compromising the quality and reliability of information shared. Drawing on Professor Twomey's expertise again, she explains: 'If voters are to be fully informed before they vote in either a referendum or an election, they need transparency about who is funding relevant campaigns. Providing that information well after the referendum is held is really shutting the stable door after the horse has already bolted.' We want Australian voters to be able to make informed decisions when they come to cast their vote. This is less possible with multiple disparate campaigns, rather than one official campaign for 'yes' and another for 'no'.

It has been more than 20 years since Australia's last referendum. Given this circumstance, and that this will be the first referendum for a generation of voters, we support the government's a plan to run a community education campaign ahead of the vote. However, the coalition is mindful of the Institute of Public Affairs's analysis of the bill, which finds it is unbalanced and favours the 'yes' case—and that's before campaigning has even begun properly. The institute warns, 'The bill would mean the federal government will use the notion of misinformation to control the public debate,' which must not happen. This is not the hallmark of a democratic referendum.

In their joint media release on 1 December 2022, four of our government ministers justified changes that would 'temporarily lift a funding restriction in the act, to enable funding of educational initiatives to counter misinformation'. But this is ambiguous. What constitutes misinformation on this issue? The government has not provided a definition in this context, which opens up debate around the need for both sides to have one official campaign and equal funding.

Supporting an amendment to restore the referendum information pamphlet is one thing, but we cannot support a bill that doesn't have a plan for how to properly regulate donations and foreign interference or, most importantly, doesn't have an outline of how the conduct of the referendum will be scrutinised. As my colleague Senator McGrath said when speaking to the report of Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters on this bill, it does contain sensible and constructive changes, but it is clear that the government has put forward other changes that are not in the interests of an informed and robust process for conducting a referendum.

The coalition has been asking the Prime Minister and his government for basic detail on the Voice just so we can understand how this proposal works. We all want to see an improved situation for Indigenous Australians, but how do we actually know this proposal will do that when we don't have the detail? Don't take my word for it. Surveys repeatedly show that Australians want detail too. Week after week for months now we've heard reports of confusion around the upcoming referendum on the Voice. People are wondering what the Voice actually means and, more importantly, what the Voice will mean for them. Australians deserve basic detail to help them make an informed decision about such an important constitutional matter.

Disinformation is rife right now, with scammers, pretending to be a child in trouble, preying on parents by asking for money, while others are taking advantage of the housing crisis to fleece people of hard-earned money with the promise of a rental property if they stump up a sizeable deposit. At a time when it's hard to know who we can trust, the government must provide the detail we are asking for ahead of a national referendum. We must have clear information on this issue for the referendum process to be a strong one. In relation to the proposed Voice, opposition leader Peter Dutton MP has directly asked the Prime Minister to advise Australians the answers to 15 questions. The answers to those questions must be forthcoming. More than $75 million was set aside in the 2022-23 budget to prepare for the delivery of a referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Constitution over the next two years, but what has been done to give Australians the answers they seek about this referendum?

The bill before us today relates to the legislative framework of this and future referenda. A number of amendments to this legislation have been proposed, showing the significant impact it will have in determining the outcome of future referenda and demonstrating the significance placed by all sides of the political divide on getting it right. I acknowledge that the government have already decided to restore the pamphlet to outline the 'yes' and 'no' cases. At a minimum, they also should now agree to establish official 'yes' and 'no' campaign organisations and appropriately fund those official organisations. As the bill currently stands, I will not be supporting the measures contained in the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022.