The Coalition is committed to ensuring Australia has the very best practice and system in place to be able to carry out fair and balanced elections.
It is clear that the Albanese Labor Government is more concerned about playing politics than about standing up for these key principles of our democracy.
Any changes made to Australia’s electoral system must improve our democracy for the benefit of all Australians, not support partisan interests.
Shadow Assistant Minister for Finance, Senator James McGrath said more Senators in Canberra was the last thing Australians needed.
“Canberra needs more common sense, not more Senators,” said Senator McGrath.
“This is one of the so called ‘recommendations’ that has come out of the Labor-dominated JSCEM, which has clearly provided these proposals in the hope of making it easier to keep themselves elected.”
“Labor’s obsession with being woke is on full display with their so-called truth in political advertising regime, which would see un-elected bureaucrats decide what can and cannot be said”.
“In the middle of a serious cost-of-living crisis, the Albanese Government needs to start focusing on supporting struggling Australians instead of only thinking about themselves and their shallow agenda,” Senator McGrath said.
The Coalition opposes Labor’s attempt to further increase the number of politicians in Canberra for their own self-gain.
To maintain our fair liberal democracy, we believe that electoral reform changes should be assessed on the following principles: the equal treatment of all political participants; fair, open, and transparent elections; encouragement of political participation without fear of retribution; recognising freedom of thought, belief, association, and speech as fundamental to free elections; and ensuring our electoral system is fit for purpose.
Ensuring Australians have continued faith in the electoral system is paramount to our democracy and to the Coalition, yet Labor’s politically-driven recommendations will only undermine this faith.
The Coalition’s dissenting report can be found at:
https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportjnt/RB000172/toc_pdf/Conductofthe2022federalelectionandothermatters.pdf (Pages 205 – 224)
ENDS