From Senator Gerard Rennick, Senator for Queensland
Last week in parliament the major parties amended the Electoral Act to make it harder for minor parties to fund election campaigns.
Support for both major parties are falling due to their failure to provide solutions to the pressing needs of the Australian people. Rather than deliver outcomes to win back support, the major parties have chosen to take the low road and bend the rules to suit themselves.
This has to be the video of the year so far…
The major parties are being dishonest by claiming all parties are being treated equally. This is not true because minor parties will not receive any electoral funding if they receive less than 4% of the vote.
Despite that, all candidates have to pay $2,000 to the AEC to nominate, meaning that every party has to pay $300,000 to the AEC if they want to run candidates in all seats across Australia and another $32,000 to run Senate candidates in every state and territory. If all parties have to pay the same amount to run, they should be eligible for the same taxpayer support.
I moved an amendment to lower the threshold for taxpayer funding to 1% so that minor parties get a fair go. Unfortunately, this amendment was not supported by any party. I also moved another motion to reduce pre-poll to three days as the taxpayer does not need to pay the AEC staff for two weeks when they should be able to run the election in a much shorter time frame. This was also voted down.
Australians are crying out for a new start in Australian politics. People First has a released a range of policies designed to have a positive impact on the lives of everyday Australians which can you read here at peoplefirstparty.au/policies.
This week we have released a new policy that will enable farmers, especially those that sell their produce to Coles and Woolworths, to engage in collective bargaining. Our horticulturists in particular should be able to form co-operatives to gain more bargaining power against the might of the big retailers. If you wish to support People First you can do so by either volunteering, donating or becoming a member.
