Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

We can hold you to account. You can actually be called to account and we can ask you questions. You are answerable to the Australian people. But I am very dubious about this idea that people outside, external to the political process, can have influence. When people vote for the Australian Labor Party on a ticket, there should be a little disclaimer down the bottom which says, 'By the way, a person called Paul Howes who is not elected to the parliament, likes to write lots of books about himself and runs with the fox and hunts with the hounds, to say it politely, may at a point in time decide to change the Prime Minister, and everything you voted for will be meaningless.' That little disclaimer should be put in there. Maybe that is something for the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to look at next time: those who have undue influence and were never actually elected members of parliament.

The most precious thing the Australian people have is their right to go into that little white box and decide how our nation is going to run. It is the only time when they are really the boss and run the show. So we have to make absolutely certain that that right is sacrosanct and cannot be corrupted or manipulated by people outside.

We must absolutely make sure that that right is reflected by the people for whom the Australian people vote, in a myriad of ways, in the other place and here in the Senate. People ultimately vote for an individual who is a member of the party. They never vote for parties; they vote for individuals who are members of parties and they vote for senators who are supposed to represent states.

If people vote for someone who allocates their preferences, they should know how those preferences are allocated. In the legislation, it says that, if you do not get four per cent of the vote, you do not get your refund. I can assure you that there are members of the Senate who get in here with less than four per cent of the vote. I have no problems with that, because, with the allocation of preferences, that is how the game works. What I do have a problem with is when we do not know where the preferences go. Any person who votes above the line in the Senate does not know where the preferences go. I suppose you can look it up, but it is not evident. This is where games can really be played by parties, when people might think they know where the preferences go but it is not actually where the preferences go.

I commend this bill. Thank you very much for your attention.