This week on Marcus Paul I talked about the revelations in Parliament this week and politicians failing to lead by example.

Transcript

Malcolm Roberts, good morning.

Good morning, Marcus. How are you?

Well, thank you, mate. Did you hear that?

I did. It’s disgusting, isn’t it? But you know what it shows, Marcus? It shows complete disrespect for the people of Australia. The people in that parliament house are supposed to be representing the people of Australia and they’re supposed to listen to the people and then serve the people. And what we have is a complete disregard for the people and the people’s assembly house. And what it shows is that voters have lost control of this country. This is supposed to be a democracy in which the citizens are served by the parliament and by the parliamentarians. We now have voters in this country, citizens in this country working for the parliament. The parliaments today, state and federal level, both are serving the parties, the the tired old parties and their donors, that’s it. And so what you have is this nonsense going on in the parliament. I have never yelled out and I never will. Pauline has only yelled out about twice because she just couldn’t contain herself. But she’s never yelled out anything vile or anything crazy. It’s just a matter of, you know, respect for each other. And even if you don’t like someone’s view, they are there to supposedly serve the people of Australia. You have to respect it then listen to them and then beat their argument with data and facts not with slurs and lies.

Yeah, just on one issue that we’re asking our listeners this morning and it’s made news as well. Alcohol should not be tolerated in parliament houses. The senior coalition minister backing a booze ban in the wake of a damning Report on the rates of bullying and harassment in Canberra. We know that Home Affairs minister, Karen Andrews has thrown her support behind an alcohol ban in federal parliament, saying she would be quote very comfortable if it was no longer allowed. This is a workplace. Alcohol should not be tolerated. Well, she’s right. It’s not tolerated here at the radio station. I’m sure it’s not tolerated in any other workplaces where there’s business to be conducted, Malcolm.

Yes, that’s a very good point. I drink very little. The strongest thing I have is a light beer, probably a one or two a week and that’s it. So if they banned alcohol in parliament house, I’ve got no problem with that whatsoever. It is important though, to recognise that it is a workplace and so it is important to recognise that and I agree with you. At the same time, there are so many hours that we spend in parliament house, that it is important to recognise it’s also a social place. And so, it’s not a simple cut and dried issue.

Oh, I understand, yes.

And you know, there are quite often some things, people relax, I relax just depending on the company. So I don’t need booze to make me relax. But some people do. And so there can be some things happening over drinks that will really facilitate politics. And I don’t mean getting drunk. I mean, just, you know, some people relaxing.

Well, a glass of wine over lunch is fine but you know, without going to excess, particularly if you’re expected in the chamber a little later to vote.

Exactly. And see, I wouldn’t drink at all during the day and I never do because even the light beer can affect me slightly. It doesn’t affect my thinking.

You’re lightweight like me, Malcolm. I am a lightweight.

Exactly. Yeah.

Absolute lightweight.

Well, we prefer to call ourselves heavyweights and that we focus on the work rather than the alcohol. But I think, you know, it’s like everything in moderation. The key issue in parliament is that it’s a place where data and facts are no longer used to drive policies and decisions markets and what happens then is that people resort to the other things which has power over others. And we can see that in the rape allegations and in the violent behaviour and the intimidation and the bullying, that starts at the top, you know. And, so it’s up to the prime minister and it’s up to the leader of the opposition to behave properly, respectfully and above all, honestly.

Yeah. I mean, look there was an incident with Anthony Albanese earlier this week that was much publicised. I don’t mind a little bit of banter across the chamber. I mean, I don’t want it to be stayed and you know, where people can’t be emotional if you like. And I understand that there will be interjections, there will be sighs, there will be groans. There will be all this sort of stuff. But I mean, the comments that were made, obviously that’s been reported and you say you heard it in the Senate. I mean, that’s where it goes way too far.

Yeah. I didn’t hear them in the Senate. I just heard what you said.

Oh, okay.

I wasn’t in Senate. We’ve been doing Senate remotely because Palaszczuk up here has got us in quarantine if we come back from Canberra for two weeks and you just can’t be out of the constituents for two weeks. But you know, those comments by Lidia Thorpe were just disgusting and there’s just no room for that at all. And, she does that quite a bit. She has called various people, old men, old grey head men, just slurs and you know, just denigrating people. And that shows that she, shows something about her past but it also shows that she hasn’t got an argument and she’s looking for attention. And I’m guessing that poor old senator Thorpe has not had a good time because she doesn’t feel like people are listening to her or paying any attention. You don’t get attention and respect by behaving in the way she does and she has yet to work that out.

Yep. All right, Malcolm. Just a short old chat this morning, just on what’s been transpiring in parliament this week. You and I will talk again next week. Thank you very much.

All right, mate.

One Nation’s, Malcolm Roberts on the programme.

The Greens profit from division and discrimination. You cannot label someone an oppressor without making a victim, so it is not in their interest to actually save victims.

Transcript

I want to refer to speeches that you gave yesterday and also Senator Thorpe. In your speech, you mentioned the term far-right extremist or extremist, every third or fourth line that enshrines separation. Five times in just 18 lines. Senator Thorpe used the term white privilege 11 times on average every fourth line, driving hate and conflict.

Now in private talk with Senator Thorpe, and not meant to be kept private but personal talk, she recognises to me that the Aboriginal Industry is doing enormous damage, but she doesn’t say that in public. What we’ve got is gutless, woke bureaucrats shovelling money continually to keep the gap open so that the people in the Aboriginal Industry, both black and white, can make money off it.

Care requires data and facts, not emotive slogans and labels. Care requires understanding. Senator Thorpe talks about climate and Aboriginals, the UN and Aboriginal, property rights and Aboriginals. They are not the same. These very things are hurting the Aboriginals, but not as much as the resort to labelled. Keeping people locked in victimhood makes them dependent so that The Greens can control them.

I’ve never heard anyone condemn you for your race, your gender, your background, only for your incitement to division and hatred. You have the privilege of being in the Senate and representing Australians. But your rhetoric is dividing on basis of race. Yet every Australian recognises we all have red blood, regardless of our skin colour. We all have a human spirit that we share with every human regardless of ethnicity, regardless of background, regardless of prejudices. And it’s about time that people in this Parliament, especially in The Greens, started to recognise that we should be united, we are one people.

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Tess Lawrie, Peter McCullough and Dr Brian Tyson. Attended by four Australian Senators and three current House of Representatives members. Australian Politicians Present include:

  • MP Craig Kelly
  • MP George Christensen
  • MP Neil Angus
  • Senator Malcolm Roberts
  • Senator Gerard Rennick
  • Senator Alex Antic
  • Senator Matt Canavan

Frontline Doctors can save lives and freedoms and paint the way forward to quickly end declared Covid19 pandemics in Australia and around the world.

With Mainstream Media Campaigns often funded by the People’s taxes, have been shown young victims of Covid19 gasping for air in Hospital

The people have been told medications with Decade’s old use and safety records are Poisons or are only good for use on horses.

The people have been obstructed from Medications.  

In Australia, John Skerritt heads the TGA and they have actually classified  Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin as Poisons;  one explanatory note actually explained that it was to funnel people into adopting the Clinical Trial Vaccines (to prevent the perception that there is an alternative to the Vaccines Available).  

The people have had a wedge driven between themselves and Doctors.

This has been achieved in Australia through the TGA obstructing Medications and

through AHPRA, led by Mr Martin Fletcher, via a campaign of warnings and suspensions of

medical professionals who have given their honest and researched risk benefit assessments of the vaccines and who may believe the current clinical trial vaccines are not in the best interests of some, many or almost all Australians.

The people have been tricked into thinking they are all in harm’s way with minimal chance of surviving Covid19.

The People have been tricked into thinking Vaccines will slow or stop people from catching or transmitting Covid19.

The People have been tricked into thinking the Vaccines offer the best way to reduce death and Hospitalisation.

The people have no idea of their own risk profile for Covid19; to get some idea see: www.mycovidodds.org

The Doctors have had their rights to practice their profession compromised in a way where they can no longer express their honest risk benefit assessments of Novel Technology Clinical Trial Phase Vaccines and where they can no longer offer normally what they beleive to be available safe and effective medications for the prevention and early treatment of Covid19.

As Peter McCullough states, the only court (given the legal court systems around the globe are failing at almost every turn to preserve the people’s freedoms and the people’s rights to choose what medications and experimental medications go into their bodies) is the people’s court.

To this end, our Australian Politicians have never had a more important or more responsible role to play than to help these doctors educate the people to the solutions at hand and the dangers to avoid; people kept so long in the dark by the forces losing theri grip on maintaining this darkness.

In this video Robert F. Kennedy’s book ‘The Real Anthony Fauci’ is strongly recommended by Senator Ron Johnson.

Peter McCullough shared 5 key usable, provable and clear principles:

a.      Covid ONLY (⁣practically) spreads from people who are symptomatic.

b.      Thus, NO asymptomatic testing is needed or is of any value.

c.      Natural immunity is much better than the current Novel Technology Clinical Trial Vaccines; You CANNOT ⁣(⁣practically) get Covid again if you have had it.

d.      Covid is quite easily treatable when treated early

e.      ALL current ⁣Novel Technology Clinical Trial Vaccines are NEITHER safe NOR effective.

This letter was in reply to my letter to leaders about the data and evidence on COVID, available here.

Other letters in this series (click to read):

211126-Premier-of-QLD-2

Abundance is not a dirty word, it is a blessing to be celebrated. It is time to return to the Australia we know and love.

Transcript

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I note that we are living through a time of great civil disturbance. The media have chosen to fill our screens with exaggerated horror and fear. As a result, families are turning against families, neighbours against neighbours, and employers against employees. At this difficult time, we cannot lose sight of the good in this world. While it is daunting for some, we benefit from counting our blessings and looking forward to again becoming the Australia we all know and love. My message tonight is simple: ‘abundance’ is not a dirty word; it’s a blessing to be appreciated.

Australia is blessed with natural diversity in climate and soil. Somewhere on our continent exist the conditions necessary to grow any crop to rival the world’s best. Whether it’s olives in Inglewood or cashews at Dimbulah, Aussie farmers will always step forward to have a go. As 42 countries slip into food deficits, Australia’s agricultural output is at record highs. We’re literally feeding the world right now, and more water for our farmers will feed more of the world’s hungry. Our entrepreneurship lifted Australia from a prison colony to a top-10 world economy. Australians invented the black box flight recorder, heart pacemakers, the electric drill, bionic hearing, wi-fi hotspots and even Google Maps. This flow of innovation has not stopped. It continues. The University of Queensland has pioneered a world-first tissue culture system that can produce up to 500 avocado plants from a single cutting. This gives Australian producers the ability to bring new cultivars to market, faster, cheaper and using fewer chemicals than anywhere else in the world. The world avocado market is valued at $20 billion, and Australia has only $500 million of that so far.

Let’s look at mining. An Australian invention called the Reflux Classifier allows for the recovery of minerals that normally run to waste in the processing of ore. The University of Newcastle pioneered this recent technology, returning $1.5 billion in royalties to Australia every year. The University of Newcastle recently registered a patent on a new type of low-cost thermal storage called miscibility gap alloy. Miscibility gap alloy raises the promise of storing energy from non-baseload power sources, to be fed back into the grid at times of peak energy demand. This has the potential for a multibillion dollar export and licensing industry. I certainly hope so, because that may stop some arguments about the proliferation of unreliable renewables—what I call ‘intermittents’. Miscibility gap alloy could not exist without carbon and without mining. The economic powerhouse that is Australian mining has kept Australia out of recession these last two years. At one point, we had the world’s largest value of stored natural resources. If we were still exploring for the bounty this land has given us, we may still be the richest country in the word. It’s not too late. We need to reject the black-armband view of our history and, by extension, our future. We need to embrace entrepreneurship, to defend the inalienable right of everyday Australians to lift themselves up through hard work and enterprise, and we need to make sure the benefit of that hard work accrues to the Australians doing the work, to everyday Australians, not to foreign corporations. Let me explain.

The wealth each Australian creates every year, called the gross domestic product—per capita and inflation adjusted—increased from $41,000 per person in 1980 to $77,000 per person in 2019. Do we feel almost twice as wealthy as we did 40 years ago, though? No, definitely not. Median or mid-point wages have not increased in this period. The spoils of the hard work of everyday Australians have not gone to everyday Australians. Instead, this wealth has gone to foreign multinational corporations and to the administrative class. Public Service wages are growing at four per cent while private enterprise wages grow at less than one per cent, and that’s just not right. What’s needed in the short term is the removal of all COVID restrictions so the economy can open up and the Australian entrepreneurial spirit can repair the damage of COVID lockdown mismanagement. Then we need to remove green tape so farmers can farm and miners can mine. Instead of unelected, unaccountable foreign bureaucrats dictating to us, we must start making decisions for ourselves. Government does have a role to build the roads, the dams and the railroads. We need to restore our productive capacity to support this growth. Tax and finance reform are necessary to ensure that Australians can access the capital to expand and ensure that the profits from that expansion stay here.

We have one flag. We are one community. We are one people. We are one nation. Abundance is not to be ashamed of. Abundance is a blessing to celebrate.

This week with Marcus Paul I discussed Remembrance Day, the Queensland Government’s announcement the unvaccinated would be locked out of society and the climate debate.

Transcript

Malcolm Roberts, good morning, mate.

Good morning, Marcus, how are you?

Well, thank you. What does Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day, the 11th of the 11th mean for you?

It means we commemorate the fallen, and also the contribution they made to our country and to protect our freedoms.

Absolutely.

It also brings back an awareness and a responsibility that we have to preserve what they gave us, what they fought for, for us. And also, it reminds me, I can still remember, not long after I was sworn into the Senate, driving from the War Memorial in Canberra, and there’s a long avenue, I think it’s Commonwealth Avenue, I can’t remember.

Yes, I think it is, yeah. It’s beautiful there.

Yeah, and looking at–

It’s gorgeous.

Looking at Parliament House on the Capital and thinking, “Gee, I wonder if one day I’ll have to make a decision about sending people overseas in an armed conflict,” and that’s a weight on my shoulders. But then I was stunned to learn, as I took my position in the Senate, that we don’t have any say, and I’m thinking of, we don’t even have a review of a decision like that. And I’m thinking of Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister, when he retired from politics. He said on TV, he said that he can still remember John Howard coming back from 9/11 in America, marching into the Cabinet and saying, “We’re off to Iraq.” I mean, you don’t make decisions like that. These are serious decisions, and we shouldn’t enter conflict just chasing someone else, following someone else, rather, into conflict, and not having an end game in mind. I mean, this is so disrespectful to the people who have died in the past and who will die in the future. I mean, it’s just irresponsible.

Yeah. All right. By the way, I’ve got somebody who wants to take you on, Malcolm. We’ll get to that at the end of our conversation. I’ll play some of the audio back. His name is Mark and he’s a regular listener. He’s like me, a bit of a lefty. In fact, I think he’s way more left. But anyway, I’ll get to that in a moment. Now let’s go through a couple of issues here. I want to talk about rapid antigen testing, which you’re in support of, but the Queensland government, or up there in your neck of the woods, if you’re unvaccinated, forget it for 2022, effectively Anastasia Palaszczuk’s announcement just the other day, It mirrors similar to what they’re doing in Victoria, not here in New South Wales. The unvaxxed will be welcome in, I dunno, just under a month. But certainly, in Queensland, you always talk about a two-tiered society. It’s pretty obvious that’s where Anastasia Palaszczuk is headed.

That’s right. It’s all about control, Marcus. But there was a very serious development yesterday in Victoria, and this is where Queensland’s headed too. There was a raid on Dr Mark Hobart’s clinic, he’s a GP in Melbourne. And unidentified people just entered his clinic and wandered around. Can you imagine the arrogance of that? They then took files, patient files, which means that they broke the confidentiality, completely smashed the confidentiality between patient and doctor, which is a fundamental relationship that has been held sacrosanct for 3,000 years. So there’s no confidentiality or privacy of your records with a doctor now. People can just wander in. He then had the temerity, Dr Hobart, to ask for identification, and they reluctantly showed him identification. They did all this with no explanation of who they were, no identification–

Well, who was it?

It was somebody to do with an authorised officer from the Department of Health. Now I don’t know whether that’s State or Federal, because I watched Mark Hobart on, Mark is a wonderful person, very direct. He has got a very, very positive reputation amongst his patients in Melbourne. But they took what they wanted, no reason given. And they just marched out of the joint. And he said, “Hang on a minute.” And they said, “We’ll give you a list later.” So they walked out of the doctor’s surgery with confidential, private patient-doctor files. They took whatever they wanted, and they said, “We’ll give you a list later of what we’ve taken.” How does the doctor know that they’ve recorded things properly? How does he know they won’t deliberately leave things out? They also stole his appointment book. Just took it!

But why would they be targeting this man, this doctor?

I don’t know, but he’s been outspoken with his views on how we need to treat this COVID. So you’d have to ask about that.

So now we’re getting somewhere. So has he been on social media, or in the media, talking about what?

No, he’s been, I don’t think he’s had much work on social media at all, but he’s been known to give his views on a certain medication, Ivermectin, which is one of the World Health Organization’s

Well, that could be it.

hundred essential medicines. The developer was given the Nobel Prize in Medicine. I’ve used it. It’s phenomenal stuff. No side-effects. Mild side-effects on a very small proportion of people. Three point seven billion doses in over 60 years. And you know, this is rubbish.

I know that some doctors have come in for criticism for writing a number of what they call fake exemption certificates. He wasn’t providing exemptions for people, was he?

I don’t know. Maybe that’s got something to do, I don’t know, Marcus. But, you know, the thing is that a doctor-patient relationship… If someone goes to the doctor, you go to the doctor, your records are private and you don’t have people wandering in, no authorization, no identification, and just stealing stuff out of a doctor’s surgery. And then saying, “We’ll tell you what we’ve taken after we’ve had a look at it.”

All right.

This is wrong! This is happening in our country!

Well, I’ll follow up on that. I mean, we don’t, as you know, mate, have absconded and done the wrong thing, and putting the rest of the community at risk by not quarantining. You’re doing the right thing. Anyway, I understand the point. I understand the point. And look, it’s not the police’s fault, they’re acting on, obviously, the authority of the government. I don’t know.

I had another very interesting phone-call from a female as well, which turned into a Zoom conference. It was Parliament’s Respect and Safety Workshop on Safety and Respect in the Workplace, something like that, right. You know, because of what’s happened, and politics in this country, and certain parties, there’ve been abuses of people, even allegations of rape, in Parliament House, this kind of stuff.

Yeah, we know.

So I said, “Yeah, okay, I’ll sign up for training.” And I think all MPs are supposed to do it. And so I started the training. Lovely lady on the other end of the Zoom call. And she was just talking about the introduction of this training, and I said, “Look,” and it just came to me, I didn’t have it planned, it just came to me on the spot. I said, “Look, with due respect to you, you’re giving training,” and we’re about to embark on this training, “You’re giving this training on treating people with respect in the workplace, and the federal government is coercing people to get something in their bodies that they don’t want in there.” Marcus, I heard of a survey from a nurse the other day that said 40% of nurses have been injected reluctantly, under coercion, under threat of losing their job. These people are not happy about that. They’re very upset that this is happening, in this country. And I said to this lady, “Here we are, the federal government giving this training, which I think is good, but at the same time they’re injecting people against their will. That is a violation of the body, it’s just a complete violation.”

But it’s the health orders, Malcolm.

Exactly. This is rubbish, Marcus.

All right.

You can’t do that kind of stuff in this country.

Before we run out of time, you say although you have serious concerns about Australia’s Doherty Institute that’s been advising government on the virus, you note that it has recommended rapid antigen testing instead of quarantine for schoolkids. You say that this test-to-stay-at-school-approach to managing outbreaks is good and that it can improve the quality of life and learning for our children, and you would also like it to be part of our back-to-work protocol across the country.

Yes. I’m still open on the rapid antigen testing. I don’t know whether it’s good or bad. I’m not a medical expert. But it looks like an alternative that’ll enable people to not get an injection if they don’t want it, because there are serious consequences of this injection already appearing right across the world. And so it’s another alternative to give governments a way of saying, “Okay, we understand that this is serious, so we can test people.” Taiwan has had by far the most spectacular success in managing this virus, because it’s actually managed the virus, rather than the virus controlling us, which is what’s happening here. And they do testing at the workplace. And it’s a simple test. We did it in Parliament House last time I was down there. When you walk into your job, you get tested temperature, just hold up one of those infrared, or whatever it is, guns to your forehead. And someone else does it, and they say, “Okay, your temperature’s either cool, or it’s normal, away you go.” If you’re warm over here, you get COVID tested. That’s what’s happening in Taiwan. Taiwan has a similar population to us, 24 million, we’ve got 25. They’re crammed in a tiny island that’s half the size of Tasmania, so they’ve got much higher transmission opportunities for the virus to spread. They got the virus into their country from mainland China. They have a huge interaction with people crossing over those two countries. They got the virus earlier than we did. They get it more heavily, in terms of the risk there. And yet in the first 12 months, when we had over 900 deaths, and we had lockdowns, severe lockdowns, Taiwan had no lockdowns and had seven deaths. Not 700. Seven.

Seven, all right.

And, you know, this is what’s going on in this country. We’re just absurd. It’s complete… I was on a show last night on Facebook, and livestreamed from someone in Canberra managing it. Lovely bloke. Three cops on there. I have never been so impressed with these three people. These three people have all either left or are protesting the police force in their state, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland. These men were stunning individuals. Strong, well-spoken, quite clear in what they’re doing. And these people are protesting against what’s going on in the police forces. We’re turning into a police state, Marcus.

Before I let you go, have a listen to this. This is one of my regulars, Mark.

I wonder if you worked out that trees make oxygen and that they absorb carbon dioxide and put it back into the soil. Duh!

Are you telling me that you’ll, on this programme, will debate Malcolm Roberts?

Yep. On air.

On air? Beautiful. All right, Malcolm, Mark wants to take you on this time next week.

Oh, sure. Happy.

Happy to?

Yeah, I’d love to. But, Marcus, tell Mark that there is one decider of science. It’s well-known. And this is what the beauty of science is. It’s brought this to the world. It’s developed freedom. The scientific method has developed freedom.

Yep. Quickly.

He needs to be able to tell me where the specific location, the page number, the document title, the authors’ names, where the evidence is, that carbon dioxide from human activity affects climate and needs to be cut.

Well I don’t think it’s just climate change–

He needs to be able to tell me where it’s quantified.

he wants to talk about. There’ll be other issues. But let’s do it. Let’s lock it in next Thursday.

Love to.

I’ve gotta go, mate, ’cause the news is approaching.

See you, mate. We’ll talk to you again next week for the great debate. Malcolm Roberts v Mark, don’t miss it. QSM Traffic.

Southern Cross drive inside the–

When I started researching election integrity I was doing it to show that our elections are secure. That is not what I found. There is no requirement to audit the results and no ID requirements to ensure there is no double voting. Our electoral legislation is full of holes. My bill seeks to fix those holes using audits that many well researched committees, agencies and investigations have already suggested. There really isn’t much reason to vote against it.

Transcript

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia I present the the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Integrity of Elections) Bill 2021, which amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.

This bill provides for the routine auditing of the electronic component of Australian federal elections and for the provision of voter identification.

It should also be noted that this bill does not look backward to previous elections, but rather forward to ensure confidence in the next election.

During COVID the actions of unelected bureaucrats and incompetent politicians has wiped out small businesses and jobs, disrupted lives and reduced many people to desperation.

The next election will be a powder keg.

It is essential to ensure that Australians can accept the result and move on.

Suspicion of the outcome can be easily fueled, especially on social media, and turned into violence by those who seek to manipulate the result for their own ends.

The level of trust in the result must be commensurate with the current heightened level of risk.

When I started researching election integrity it was to show that our elections are secure. That is not what I found.

The Australian National Audit Office conducted three audits into the 2013 federal election. Their final report came out in 2016. This is what ANAO said about the Australian Electoral Commission (the AEC):

In 2014 the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters wrote to the Auditor General seeking a performance audit focusing on the adequacy of the Australian Electoral Commission implementation of recommendations arising from earlier ANAO audits of the AEC.

The Auditor General decided to conduct 3 related performance audits.

All three reports found that the AEC had not adequately and effectively implemented the earlier ANAO recommendations. The reports concluded that in order to protect the integrity of the Australian electoral system and rebuild confidence in the AEC these recommendations should be implemented.

AUDITOR-GENERAL REPORT NO. 6 OF 2015–16

The report went on to say:

“ANAO plans to undertake a follow-up audit following the next federal election, in 2016, to examine the adequacy and effectiveness of the AEC’s implementation of the ten recommendations made by ANAO across three reports.”

AUDITOR-GENERAL REPORT NO. 6 OF 2015–16

Those recommendations included:

“the AEC must develop a strategy for deeper reform to ensure and demonstrate integrity in all aspects of the election, including a fundamental overhaul of the AEC’s policies and procedures to restore confidence in the electoral process”.

AUDITOR-GENERAL REPORT NO. 6 OF 2015–16

Let me say that again – a fundamental overhaul to ensure election integrity.

Mr President the follow-up audit to test how well the AEC implemented this fundamental review into election integrity never occurred.

Perhaps someone should do a bill to bring on that audit. Oh wait Mr President, I did.

Were ANAO happy for this direction – apparently not.

In their submission to this bill ANAO said my bill was not necessary as they had the power to audit the AEC at any time.

If that is the case then they should get on with it.

Mr President New South Wales and Western Australia have provisions in their electoral acts to audit state elections.

New South Wales conducts an audit before each election to ensure systems are fit for purpose and then audits again after each election to ensure integrity, and to see what can be improved for next time.

Western Australia audits after every election.

There is no audit function currently specified in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.

This bill creates a function for the Auditor General to audit the operation of the AEC twice in each election cycle:

  1. In the lead up to the election; and
  2. From polling day to the declaration of the poll.

 The audit provided for in this bill covers electronic measures, and tests if:

“the use of authorised technology produces the same result as would be obtained without the use of authorised technology.”

Put simply this is asking the Auditor General to ensure that the use of computerised voter rolls, tallying, preference allocations and related matters produced a result that accurately reflects the will of the people.

ANAO felt that was too high a bar to meet, I would consider ensuring the will of the people was accurately reflected in the result was the bare minimum for any election audit.

This bill does not specify what will be audited. The decision regarding the operation of the audit is best left to the agencies conducting the audit.

Secondly, this bill authorises the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to audit and monitor computer systems for unauthorised access internally and externally.

This is targeting both unauthorised access from within the system and unauthorised external access by malicious entities.

The Australia Signals Directorate is currently conducting a cyber “uplift program” at the Australian Electoral Commission. While the program is most welcome, there is no basis in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 or the Intelligence Services Act 2001 for that program.

This bill brings legislation into line with current practice.

Mr President In May Senate estimates I asked the Australian Electoral Commission simple questions regarding their auditing. I was assured that audits are occurring. On no occasion then or since have the following questions been answered:

  • Who conducted the audit?
  • When was the audit conducted?
  • What was audited?
  • What was the result?
  • Have any changes been made as a result of the audit?

It is disturbing that such an audit could happen behind closed doors without direction or structure. It is more disturbing that this program has no legal basis in the Commonwealth Electoral Act.

We should not have to rely on the admirable conscientiousness of the Australian Signals Directorate. We should be able to rely on the completeness of our legislation.

Mr President I also looked at other issues around election integrity.

First up was a simple question: At the Senate Scanning Centre is the electronic data file containing each vote ever compared back to the paper ballot after the vote has been adjudicated?

That answer is no. At no time is the electronic record of a vote checked back against the paper ballot once the ballot is adjudicated.

Some disputed votes are held back and adjudicated later in the counting process, then filed away.

There is no routine sampling beyond that point. That is not acceptable.

The third part of my bill is for voter ID. Most of the recommendations in the ANAO report, that was never followed up, went to failures in the integrity of voter rolls.

It is too late to go back now and audit those rolls before the next election, by way of re-commencing residency checks, as ANAO recommended.

It is not too late for a quick fix – which is voter ID. Asking for simple identification will act as an audit on the rolls in real time, and ensure every vote cast was legitimate.

This is not my idea. Recommendation 21 of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Inquiry into the 2019 Federal Election called for voter identification to be introduced. This same finding was made in 2016 and 2013.

Schedule 2 of this bill is drafted to give effect to the committee recommendation as literally as possible.

Voters must present a form of acceptable identification to be issued with an ordinary pre-poll or election day vote. Authorised identification must be suitably broad so as to not actively prevent electors from casting an ordinary ballot.

This bill allows a wide range of acceptable voter ID. The AEC is empowered to make further regulations to ensure voters are not disenfranchised.

The AEC noted in their submission to the JSCEM inquiry that:

“multiple voting is frequently the subject of media commentary and social media speculation. Such a degree of focus is entirely understandable: there can hardly be a more emblematic component of trust in electoral results than ensuring eligible voters only exercise the franchise [appropriately].”

Multiple voting is a red herring in this debate. My bill is not concerned with multiple voting, it is concerned with ensuring every vote cast was made according to law.

The Commonwealth Electoral Act (Integrity of Elections Bill) 2021 is about protecting confidence in our elections.

The cyber integrity of our elections and the use of voter identification is essential to that confidence.

I recommend the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Integrity of Elections) Bill 2021 to the Senate.

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For this podcast we are heading west to Charleville, which knows a lot about droughts and flooding rains. Back in 1902 in the midst of a crippling drought, ingenuity and desperation came up with the idea of a vortex gun that would shoot at the clouds to bring about rain, unfortunately without success. Charleville has seen many floods since and in 1990 over 1000 homes were flooded and most of the town evacuated.

Charleville is situated on the Warrego River and positioned on a natural stock route between NSW and QLD. It became an important stopover in the day of Cobb and Co and was eventually settled by pastoralists in the 1860s.

Today Charleville is a vibrant regional town with a population of around 3,500 and boasts Bilbies, black skies and the longest bar, when constructed, in the Southern Hemisphere, at the Corones Hotel.

Charleville is a must visit in outback Queensland and to tell us more about all Charleville has to offer, Malcolm talks with the Murweh Mayor, Shaun Radnedge, or Zoro as he is known locally in Charleville.

Today I chatted with Marcus about the removal of Senator Pauline Hanson’s podcast interview with Jessica Rowe and the looming fate for many workers who have chosen not to have their vaccination by today’s deadline.

Today, I questioned Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 witnesses from Services Australia and the Digital Transformation Agency in regard to their development of a Digital Passport.  These passport are unnecessary and will divide Australians into two tiers, barring many everyday Australians out of the places and businesses, we have a right to enjoy. 

Australian businesses have already stated that they are hesitant to check the vaccine status of customers due to concerns about staffing capacity and privacy implications.