Labor has warned the Turnbull government not to let a “tantrum over the Liberal party’s failed election campaign” get in the way of a multi-party effort to achieve electoral reform.
The Labor MP Andrew Giles, who is the deputy chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, told Guardian Australia on Thursday the government should not rush ahead of the process currently underway through the committee.
The committee is currently examining the conduct in the last federal election and is examining submissions calling for sweeping reform to the system of political donations and disclosures.
Labor, through the JSCEM process, has agreed that messages to voters including robocalls and texts should state who authorised them – which is an integrity measure in response to the ALP’s so-called “Mediscare” campaign in 2016.
The committee said in an interim report last December that the law should be amended to “specifically and explicitly address the matter of authorisation” to ensure parties are accountable for their political statements, those who authorise materials are “identifiable and traceable” and there is consistency in the application of rules.
Government sources have confirmed the Coalition is also working on a separate and new prohibition designed to outlaw false representations of a government body. It is understood the prohibition is being worked on by the attorney general, George Brandis.
There is no law currently against impersonating a commonwealth entity, only a commonwealth officer. This proposal would push further than the agreed JSCEM framework, which has prompted anger from the ALP.
“Malcolm Turnbull is demonstrating contempt for the joint standing committee on electoral matters,” Giles said on Thursday. “It is deeply concerning that the prime minister is allowing his tantrum over the Liberal party’s failed election campaign to subvert the well-established, non-partisan process for reviewing proposed changes to electoral laws.
“Changes to criminal law must be properly considered, as the committee has determined. The integrity of the electoral system and the healthy functioning of our democracy are more important than Malcolm Turnbull’s battered ego,” he said.
In a hearing of JSCEM this week, the major parties crept towards a bipartisan position of foreign donations.
The Liberal party’s federal director, Tony Nutt, told the committee a ban on receiving foreign donations should apply across the board to Australian political parties, associated entities and activist groups, including campaigning entities like GetUp.
Labor’s assistant national secretary, Paul Erickson, supported the level playing field in principle.
The committee will produce another interim report on foreign donations in early March.
