David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister. I might just explain, for the chamber, how the cap would actually work. In the territory, a new entrant could spend $600,000 on their Senate campaign. The Liberal and Labor candidates could spend $600,000 on their campaign, promoting themselves. If one of the parties thinks that this new entrant is a threat to the seat that they've held for 50 years, they could spend as much money as they are willing to allocate under their $90 million national cap as long as that advertising does not mention that person. This is the crux of the level playing field disagreement that Minister Farrell and I have. I have a lot of respect for the way that Minister Farrell is able to get things done, and I'm not going to go down into personal attacks. But that is the fact of it—if you ask the department or read the legislation. It's not the level playing field we're hearing about. There is the benefit of being a party.

Minister, I asked about consideration that's been given to the ability of new entrants to comply with the real-time disclosures and all the things that you've been talking about. We know that MPs get 30 grand a year and senators get 15 grand a year to do that. Can you please confirm that no consideration has been given to the ability of new entrants to comply with new laws without the additional administrative funding.