Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As we move forward, we have to remain vigilant and resolute in our defence of Australia's foundational principles and resist any attempt to undermine our Constitution, particularly in today's environment of fake news and foreign interference. Australians are, very wisely, naturally cautious about making amendments to our Constitution. It is only fair to the people that we serve in this place that we ensure they have all of the available facts, which they can trust, so they can make a fully informed decision about whether they support the upcoming referendum.

In this age of disinformation, it is important that the government takes the lead and provides clear information and a robust referendum process to Australians. The opposition has raised three points with the government to address our concerns with the referendum process. The first is to restore the pamphlet to outline the 'yes' and 'no' cases. Again, while the government may have indicated support for that, the devil will certainly be in the detail. The second is to establish the official 'yes' and 'no' campaign organisations. The third is to appropriately fund both of these official organisations to ensure that the process is fair and has integrity. These measures are fundamental to having a referendum with informed voters and, as I said, a process that is transparent and that voters can clearly trust because it has integrity. It's fair to say that this change in the bill to the existing legislation will actually have profound implications not just for this next referendum but also for subsequent referendums. So while, as I've said, we welcome the government's announcement that they will restore the pamphlet, we have to now see the detail of what that will mean for the change to the legislation.

On our side of the chamber, we cannot support and we will not support a bill that does not have a plan for how to properly regulate donations and how to properly regulate foreign interference—the very real threat of foreign interference—or one that does not provide a plan for how scrutiny of the referendum itself will be conducted. All of this could be resolved by the establishment of appropriately and equally funded official 'yes' and 'no' campaign organisations.

We welcome the engagement of government on this bill, but, as we said, we still have concerns. Why do we have concerns? Let's have a look at what this bill is designed to do. This bill will determine the settings for how the referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament is conducted. However, the coalition has no doubt that the changes included in this bill will also be used for future referendums. The bill does—and we do acknowledge this—make a number of non-controversial changes to the act to bring the operation of referenda into line with the Commonwealth Electoral Act, which hasn't been done, I believe, for nearly 20 years. It is out of date and it is out of step with the Electoral Act. However, there are three key concerns and issues that remain for us on this side of the chamber. The bill as it stands removes the requirement to provide all households with a pamphlet outlining both the 'yes' and the 'no' cases for changes to our Constitution, the bill does not make provision for official 'yes' and 'no' campaign organisations, and the bill does not outline any official funding for these campaigns.

These positions have been advocated consistently to the government by those on this side of the chamber, because, while the government are desperate to get this referendum through, they keep mismanaging it, and the prospect of not doing that—due to their own mistakes and fumbles in this area—is making them more desperate to get this through. But by stacking the deck, as the government is proposing to do in this bill, not only will it corrupt the process but it will actually make it less likely for this to go through if the majority of Australians and all voters don't have access to information that they can trust so that they can make an assessment of both the 'yes' and the 'no' cases before casting their vote.

People listening might be wondering why we're advocating the retention of a pamphlet. On the face of it, it seems like it might be a little outdated—a written pamphlet in the days of modern media. But this sets a very dangerous precedent. There is no precedent at all, in nearly a hundred years, for deliberately not providing a pamphlet. This would be the first time since before Phar Lap won the Melbourne Cup for the first time that there is not a pamphlet.

The requirement for a pamphlet was instituted in 1912 for a very good reason. There have been three referenda—in 1919, 1926 and 1928—for which there wasn't a pamphlet, but there were very good reasons for that each time. In 1919 there was literally insufficient time to produce the pamphlet, in 1926 there was no agreement on how to produce the 'yes' argument itself and in 1928 there was overwhelming agreement between parties and government and it wasn't thought necessary. But none of the circumstances for those three exceptions apply here today. We know there's not complete agreement on the issue itself, we have the time to prepare the pamphlets and we can get agreement on how to argue the cases.

In 1967 and 1977 only 'yes' pamphlets were provided to the electorate. That, again, we think is wrong. We need to put to the people of Australia the arguments for both the 'yes' case and the 'no' case and people can then be in a position to make up their own minds.

Why the pamphlets? We know that people still trust written material that comes from the government as official material. We've heard from the AEC that, when they provide material to electors in our federal elections, 40 per cent of recipients will use this documentation as their main source of information for how to cast their vote. But we also know that electoral events are increasingly influenced by misinformation and social media algorithms that provide an echo chamber of thoughts and ideas for voters' minds, whereas this would be official material that people can trust.

Additionally, the ACCC has published data that has reported that 92 per cent of respondents to the ACCC's news survey had some concerns about the quality of news and also the journalism that they were consuming. The analysis has identified consumer concerns and competition harms across a wide range of digital platform services which are widespread, entrenched and systematic. If you think about that, it is even more important today that we provide, support and fund material that people can trust when you have 92 per cent of respondents in the latest ACCC news survey having concerns about the quality and veracity of the information they receive on online platforms.

Why are we advocating for official 'yes' and 'no' campaigns? We're doing that simply because it will clearly increase the trust of the Australian voters in the integrity of the process itself, which is absolutely critically important. Having official 'yes' and 'no' campaigns will make things simpler for the regulatory environment and for the proper conduct of the referendum itself.

The AEC has given evidence to the parliamentary committee JSCEM that the donation disclosure regime remains the most complex part of the Electoral Act. We will be applying that regime in this referendum and to participants who are not regularly involved in elections. An official campaign structure will be the best way for our regulators to ensure that the appropriate education and enforcement of the electoral laws is in place for the referendum.

We know that there will be a significant number of participants, including organisations, in this referendum who will not be associated with political parties or do not have regular events in the electorate. That is okay. That is what we would expect in a functioning democracy. But having a single point of coordination to provide education and to commence any audit processes for donations or foreign interference is the best way to protect the integrity of the referendum from misinformation and foreign interference.

The Senate has already heard from officials that there might be people who will fall under donations legislation and other electoral laws who won't know about it because they're not regular political donors. The AEC has said the education of participants will be significant given that these events happen so rarely and that they aren't the usual political parties that they will be regulating. They've acknowledged that even political parties, who go through this process all the time, sometimes struggle to get it right.

On the final point, why we are asking for equal funding: we on this side of the chamber are seeking an assurance that once these bodies are established and there is a guarantee of equal funding for both cases—if it is provided—it is provided to each side, to ensure that neither side is advantaged or disadvantaged and that they can comply with the disclosure and regulatory regimes at the referendum. In short, it is a big thing for Australians to consider changing our Constitution, and the— (Time expired)