Power Simon: Electoral Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Power Simon: Electoral Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1329] 
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Electoral Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. I thank members of the House for their support for the Electoral Amendment Bill and I am hopeful that this is just a first step in a return to cross-party consensus on electoral law. Even the Green Party members who have indicated they are to vote against this legislation have said in their first reading speeches that they wish to participate in the cross-party approach to further discussions on electoral law and I am pleased that all political parties will be involved in that. 
Notwithstanding the complexity of electoral law the structure of this bill is relatively straightforward and as the House is in urgency I do not intend to speak for long. This bill repeals the Electoral Finance Act 2007 and amends the Electoral Act 1993. The bill establishes an interim electoral finance regime pending the completion of a comprehensive review of electoral finance law. The interim regime will return to the election expenses provisions that governed previous elections retain the provisions in the Electoral Finance Act 2007 that relate to donations to political parties and candidates and reinstate the general rules that governed the publication of campaign advertising as previously known. 
The bill contains two parts. Part 1 amends the Electoral Act by inserting new Part 6A into that Act. New Part 6A contains the rules that govern the regulation of election expenses and donations to political parties and constituency candidates. It appears in the same place in the Electoral Act as the provisions that previously existed. Subparts 1 and 2 will regulate candidate and party election expenses. 
As indicated by other speakers first those subparts will return to setting a 3-month period prior to polling day during which the election expenditure of political parties and candidates is regulated. The regulated period in the Electoral Finance Act could last up to a year and that was simply too long a period in which to monitor and potentially restrict people’s rights. Secondly those subparts will define an election activity and the election expenses of political parties and constituency candidates. 
As I said earlier the Government recognises that there are some shortcomings in the old rules. One clear example is the problems with regard to the expenses regime that were highlighted by the High Court in its decision in  
Peters v Clarkson 
. That focused particularly on the law relating to the apportionment of advertising expenses between constituency candidates and political parties and the rules for accounting for the commercial value of materials and advertising space. The purpose of the interim regime is to return immediately to a law that is certain and credible. Those shortcomings will be addressed during the development of an enduring electoral finance regime. 
Subparts 1 and 2 of Part 1 also set overall expenditure limits for political parties and constituency candidates as well as specifying the obligation for political parties and constituency candidates to submit expenditure returns. 
 Subparts 3 to 6 of Part 1 take the provisions from the Electoral Finance Act that the Government has decided to retain and put them into the Electoral Act. Those provisions govern donations to political parties and constituency candidates. In short those provisions “regulate donations funded through contributions anonymous donations and overseas donations”; “establish a procedure enabling donations to be made to political parties via the Electoral Commission so that the identity of the donor is protected from disclosure”; and “specify obligations for political parties and constituency candidates to submit donation returns at specified times”. As I said in my first reading speech the Government recognises that the donations provisions of the Electoral Finance Act provide greater transparency about donations to political parties. Those provisions are to be retained because of the necessity of maintaining a fair and workable electoral system throughout the entire electoral cycle. 
Clauses 7 to 9 reinstate the general rules from Part 7 of the Electoral Act that governed the publication of campaign advertisements that were in force at the 2005 general election and that were repealed by the Electoral Finance Act 2007. 
I draw the attention of the House to a couple of ways in which the Electoral Act provisions differ from those in force in 2005. The first relates to the drafting of those provisions. In parts the Electoral Act 1993 is somewhat antiquated legislation. Many of the sections of that Act were taken directly from the Electoral Act 1956 or its predecessors and reflect some obsolete drafting practices. Despite its faults from a policy perspective the Electoral Finance Act reflects modern drafting techniques which we generally find easier to understand. For that reason the language in some sections of the Electoral Act that are being reinstated has been redrafted in a modern style. That is necessary to ensure that the language and structure fit within the modern sections that now sit alongside them in the same part of the same Act. 
The second change to the old electoral law relates to compliance and enforcement as mentioned by previous speakers. The Electoral Finance Act significantly raised the penalty levels for corrupt and illegal practices and also significantly raised the penalty levels across the board for all electoral finance offences. The Electoral Finance Act also increased the time limit over which prosecutions could be brought for offences relating to the filing of returns and for corrupt and illegal practice. The time limits in the old Act were problematic because by the time the offence was discovered the time limit for prosecution might well have expired. That was not in the best interests of anyone and this bill retains the amendments. The changes are discrete and had broad cross-party support at the time they were enacted. 
Part 2 delivers on the Government’s promise to repeal the Electoral Finance Act. Because the 2008 general election has already been conducted under that Act transitional provisions are required that will continue any obligations that exist under that Act in respect of that election. In short the transitional provisions do three things. First they ensure that political candidates political parties and third parties are required to file returns for the 2008 general election. Second they enable offences committed under the Electoral Finance Act to be investigated and prosecuted until the time limit for those offences has expired. Third they preserve the procedure established under the Electoral Finance Act for claiming paying and disputing election expenses claims. Once those obligations have expired the Electoral Finance Act will cease to have any effect. We can then turn our minds to the development of an enduring electoral finance regime that enjoys strong cross-party support as well as the confidence of the voting public. 
I commend this bill to the House.