Rise Up Party ABN 20 150 207 800

Rise Up Australia Ltd.

Postal Address: PO Box 137 Phone: (61 3) 8795 7544 Hallam, Email: [email protected] 3803 Website: www.riseupaustraliaparty.com

29 February 2016.

Secretary, Joint Standing committee on Election Matters Parliament House Canberra ACT.

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission on the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016; however we would like to point out that most people are actually unaware that there is an opportunity to make such a Submission, due to the extremely short time that has been provided for us to do so. Also it is very unreasonable that due to the importance of the Legislation the time span provided for public hearing is only 4 1/2 hours.

The Rise Up does not support the Government’s proposed amendments to the manner in which senators are to be elected. Our reasons are stated below.

1) The Senate is intended to be a ‘States House’ , a place where the States can voice their concerns and opinions on legislation proposed by the House of Representatives, thereby maintaining the concept of federalism as embodied in our Constitution. The Senate is also meant to act as a place of review on legislative passed in the House of Representatives The current amendments seek to reduce the Senate to a body that only rubber stamps legislation passed by the Lower House.

2) The Bill seeks to further divide the Senate. Presently the Senate acts along party lines and is not functioning as a House of Review as was originally intended, maintaining the concept of federalism. The current Bill therefore makes the situation worse by eliminating Independents and Minor Political Parties from the Senate

3) The existing Electoral systems provide a platform for likeminded minority parties to preference each other, yet still maintain their independence. How else can a minor ’s voice be heard? Many minor political parties do not receive any electoral funding and their ability to be received is limited. It is true that ‘Back Room’ deals are done under our current system, but these deals do not generally stand the test of time.

4) The current Electoral System ensures that each vote is preserved for as long as possible, these votes may eventually end up with one of the major parties; however they must go through the

Rise Up Australia Party ABN 20 150 207 800

Rise Up Australia Ltd.

Postal Address: PO Box 137 Phone: (61 3) 8795 7544 Hallam, Email: [email protected] Victoria 3803 Website: www.riseupaustraliaparty.com

full list of preferences, this is exactly what the coalition with the Greens and Senator Xanophon want to avoid.

5) The terms of reference state that one of the objectives of the Bill is to reduce complexity in Senate voting by providing Partial Optional Preference Voting above the line. Rise Up Australia Party submits that the Bill actually increases voting complexity. The new legislation proposes that Voters number up to 6 boxes consecutively above the line, if the party you wish to vote for is not listed they must then fill out all the boxes below the line. This will increase informal votes.

6) If this Legislation is to be operational in time for the next Election there will be a significant cost factor to be taken into account, burdening the economy even more considering our already increasing budget deficit.

We would like to close this Submission with the comment: The current system is well understood by voters, works efficiently therefore should remain in place.

Yours Faithfully,

Yvonne Gentle National Secretary