Senator FAULKNER (12:38 PM) —I will not be supporting Senator Brown on this, but I want to make it absolutely clear that it is not for the reasons that he has outlined.

We in the Labor Party take the view that, if you cannot find 50 signatures, your chances of seriously contesting a seat are extraordinarily remote. It would be difficult to imagine that any candidate approaching a federal election with anything other than the most frivolous of motives would not be able to find that level of support in the community.

I hear what Senator Brown says about the proposed increase in nomination deposits for candidates to the Senate and the House of Representatives. I do not consider an increase from $500 to $700 in the Senate or $250 to $350 in the House of Representatives to be extraordinary increases, given that there has not been an increase in the level of these deposits for some 15 years. The point made by Minister Minchin that CPI increases would have seen these deposits increase by a greater amount than what is being proposed by the joint standing committee—and what is now contained within this bill—is actually valid. I want to say to Senator Brown that the motivation that he might ascribe to the major political parties is not the motivation that moves the opposition to support these provisions of the bill.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Senator Hogg) —The question is that schedule 1, items 87, 90 and 91 stand as printed.

Question resolved in the affirmative.