Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Trade and Tourism (Senator Farrell) to a question without notice I asked today relating to electoral reform.

The Greens have been calling for changes to our donation laws for decades, and in this parliament it's clear that Labor would have the numbers, with the Greens and the crossbench, to progress genuine electoral reform. So I asked the minister whether he intends to keep the commitment this government made prior to the election to improve democracy and to reform our electoral laws, or whether, instead, he's seeking to stitch up a deal with the coalition that will benefit their own two parties but throw democracy under the bus. Well, I did get an acknowledgement from the Special Minister of State that we still haven't seen a draft bill and that it's taken longer than he had hoped it would, but unfortunately that was about the extent of the information that I received in relation to that question.

I then asked about fossil fuel companies, who are donating millions of dollars to both the large political parties, and in return, of course, those companies get billions of dollars of public money in fossil fuel subsidies, accelerated depreciation and cheap diesel fuel. That's simply turbocharging the climate crisis. So I asked the minister whether he would ban donations from fossil fuel companies and other sectors that try to buy influence, and I said that, instead, we could reform laws so that we act in the best interests of the community here rather than that of the highest bidder. But I didn't get much of a response to that either. I pointed out that twice now I've introduced a bill to ban donations from fossil fuel companies and other sectors with a track record of trying to buy influence, but there hasn't been any interest from either of the major parties in progressing these reforms. Why? It's not in the interests of their donor mates.

Earlier this year, the Minister for Resources tabled a provision that would have given her, rather than the environment minister, ultimate authority for offshore gas project approvals. Now, that proposal to bypass environmental approvals, which thankfully the Greens stopped, followed revelations that Minister King had received a request from the CEO of Santos to gag First Nations groups and to fast-track new offshore gas. Let me say that again in another way: Santos asked for the laws to change to bolster their own profits. We FOIed the letter. We have seen the receipts. Presumably Santos thought that its $110,000 donation last financial year made such a direct request to the minister perfectly reasonable. Who is this government working for—the Australian people or the fossil fuel industry?

The Greens want to see electoral reform so that politics can work for the public interest and not for the highest bidder. Prime Minister Albanese made big promises about transparency and accountability before he came into government, but we've been waiting for over two years now and we are still yet to see or be meaningfully consulted on any electoral reform legislation from this government. The Special Minister of State keeps saying that people can talk to him; we're waiting for you to brief us on what your proposal is. Months and months on, we still have not seen the bill that you keep promising.

Earlier this year I joined with crossbench colleagues to introduce an electoral reform bill that would improve transparency, introduce truth in political advertising, reduce the influence of lobbyists, level the playing field and increase territory representation. We have that bill ready to go. You can have the numbers to pass it. The Greens are ready to work for genuine electoral reform.

People are desperate for a parliament that's more diverse and more representative. They don't want the Coles and Woolies of Australian politics anymore and are sick of not being able to tell the difference between the two big parties on the issues that really matter to them. That is why support for the big parties is falling and it's exactly why the government has a choice. Do they want to stitch up a dirty deal on electoral reform with the Liberal Party so they can keep the donations rolling in from coal and gas, or are they going to commit to general electoral reforms that actually improve electoral outcomes? Only time will tell.

I'm going to take a quick liberty, Deputy President. It's my grandmother's 97th birthday today, and I want to take the chance to wish Elizabeth Tibbles, or Nanna Betty, as our family knows her, a happy birthday. She's got a bevy of friends around her. She's a remarkable woman. Happy birthday, Nanna Betty.

Question agreed to.