Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, throughout the whole process. Right from the start of the discussions about this legislation, we have engaged with the Australian Electoral Commission. I would have liked this legislation to have been in force for this particular election, but, because of the very transformational nature of the changes that we're making here—particularly those provisions that relate to real-time disclosure, and to the donations caps and disclosure caps—the AEC requested extra time to implement the changes because they are such significant changes.

I wanted to get this legislation through the parliament in this term to give the Australian Electoral Commission as much time as I possibly could to implement these changes. They are significant and important changes, and we want to get them right. I am planning to give the AEC as much time as possible to implement them, and, because they have been engaged in the process and have seen the changes that we're proposing, they have had the opportunity to provide input into what we're doing here. So the answer to your question is yes, we have consulted extensively with the AEC.