Mr ROBB (10:20 AM) —I rise to speak on the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Report on the 2007 federal election—events in the division of Lindsay. In reflecting on the incident in general, I concur with the view of the then Prime Minister, John Howard, at the National Press Club on 22 November 2007. He stated:

In my view, this report on that incident—which was a most unfortunate incident—presents an exhaustive and factual approach to the issue. I am grateful to the chairman, in particular, and other members of the committee for the approach that was taken. As well, it importantly reviews the adequacy of the penalty provisions in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 in light of the events that occurred on the evening of 20 November 2007 that led to five people being charged with breaching the act. The actions of those individuals were totally unacceptable and reprehensible but I think in no way reflective of the Liberal Party, its members, supporters and candidates at large. Those events did, however, bring into focus the inadequacy of the penalties, as set out in section 328 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, for breaching the act’s guidelines. The current penalties are $1,000 for an individual and $5,000 for a body corporate for non-compliance. Opposition members and senators agree that these penalties, which have not been updated since 1983, are inadequate and act as an insufficient deterrence. In addition to this, opposition members support recommendation 2 of this report. It states:

These increased penalty units currently equate to $6,600 for an individual and $33,000 for a body corporate. We believe these increased penalties and the offence being redrafted as a strict liability offence strike the right balance. As the report states:

These penalties do represent, in my view, a significant deterrence and if properly understood and made known by all parties to people associated with their party will act as a significant deterrence and strike the right balance. In brief, recommendation 1 of the report states:

with assistance from the Attorney-General, should use—

accordingly, and—

be put—

Recommendation 3 states:

Opposition members support both these recommendations. Finally, I would like to add my thanks to my committee colleagues and, in particular, the chairman, the member for Banks, for the approach taken. Also, I would like to thank the committee secretariat and those organisations and individuals who prepared submissions and appeared as witnesses before the committee.