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

We may have to just agree to disagree again, Senator Pocock. This whole regime is all about putting downward pressure on the costs so that, for new entrants, it is less expensive. If this legislation were in place at the last election, Senator Pocock, you would not have had to raise $1.7 million to get yourself elected. There would have been a ceiling that both you were subject to as a new competitor and the existing incumbents—exactly the same amount of money, to limit it. If you're saying that the system should allow more money for new incumbents to spend, I don't agree with that. If we're going to have a fair electoral system, then I say you have to have a level playing field, and a level playing field is applying the caps equally to all participants in the process.