Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to inform Australians about changes proposed to electoral laws, especially about the gift that Labor is giving itself in the form of compliance funding, courtesy of the Australian taxpayer. At $30,000 per lower house MP and $15,000 per senator, Labor will get close to $2.7 million. When you add it up for every member of this parliament, it reaches $5.67 million. Don't you love how Labor is just helping itself to more of your money? They conveniently make some changes to the Commonwealth Electoral Act and then decide their MPs need more of your money to comply with them.

When Labor imposes horrendous compliance requirements on miners, small businesses and farmers, such as the appalling industrial relations legislation rammed through last year, those people get no support to help them comply. Yet, it's the miners, small businesses and farmers which generate real wealth in the economy, in the form of jobs, goods and taxes—not MPs. It's their productivity which drives our economy, and it's the excess of red, green and black tape imposed by Labor which is a drag on this productivity. I'd call it hypocritical, except these days Labor wears hypocrisy like a badge of honour. I'm just going to settle for calling it greedy. Let me tell the Australian public: at the last election, in 2022, the donations to the major political parties paid in electoral funding was $57.4 million. After this electoral reform bill goes through, by the 2028 election, funding for the two major political parties will amount to $140 million. Those are the reports coming through. I will be moving amendments to the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024. This is absolutely disgusting, and I cannot fathom why they're ripping more money out of the public.