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

Stay sitting up, please, Senator Pocock. If you look at the legislation, I'm happy to go through it after the legislation goes through tonight. I'm happy to sit down with you again, if you are still of the view that I'm wrong on this point. But the major political parties, for the first time since Federation, since this legislation came into force, are limiting their ability to spend money at the next election. I know it is so attractive when you have access to these rivers of gold that are coming from all the billionaires and millionaires to keep that coming. I know that's attractive. I'm sure it might be attractive to the Liberal Party and to the Labor Party, but we are saying, 'No, we're not going to take that money anymore.' We are going to self-limit the amount of money that we are going to take from donors.

Senator Lambie, it's a good thing that this legislation is passing. I'm not sure if you're still running candidates in lower house seats. I know you are running candidates in the Senate in South Australia. We are self-limiting the amounts of money. That's the first time in Australian political history that any party has proposed that, and it's a good thing for Australian democracy. I think the Australian people will get behind this legislation. In fact, I think most of them would think, 'Geez, I wish that was applying this election, so we don't have to wait for it for another three years.'

If you want to move an amendment for it to start applying from this election, I'll give that some consideration, Senator Lambie. But this is an historic piece of legislation. The major parties are limiting the money that they're going to spend at the election after next. They've put downward pressure on the cost of elections, and that's good for ordinary Australians. It's good for ordinary Australians who want to participate in the electoral process, because it gives them a chance. It gives them a chance. They don't have to be beholden to a millionaire or billionaire.

They can have a crack at a lower-house seat. They can, for the first time, Senator Pocock. Was it $2.1 million that you spent at the last election, Senator Pocock? In the whole history of ACT Senate—