BY SUE BOLAND
The federal Coalition government, with support from Labor, plans to rush through parliament amendments to the Electoral Act which will make it virtually impossible to register a new political party — unless it has plenty of money.
The major parties want the amendments to be passed by the Senate before the Australian Electoral Commission makes a decision on whether to allow the registration, by former One Nation party leaders David Ettridge and David Oldfield, of two new parties, the No GST Party and the No Nuclear Waste Party. The deadline for objections to the new parties was October 6, so the AEC will be making its decision very soon.
If the amendments are passed before the AEC makes its decision, Labor wants them implemented retrospectively, to ensure that the AEC refuses registration to the No GST Party and the No Nuclear Waste Party.
On September 26, Labor proposed to the special minister for state, Senator Chris Ellison, a series of amendments to the Electoral Act.
The amendments would raise the membership threshold for registration of parties from 500 to 1000 members; specify that a federal parliamentarian cannot register more than one party; specify that only federal MPs and senators can sponsor the federal registration of a party; charge a $5000 fee for an application to register a political party; and a $5500 fee for an application to change the name or abbreviation of a political party.
The restrictions would apply to existing registered parties, which would have to satisfy the AEC each year that they have maintained the minimum membership level for registration.
Anti-nuclear campaigner Helen Caldicott, the founder of the Our Common Future party, pointed out in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald on October 2, these amendments would "make the registration of new political parties beyond the reach of ordinary citizens who wish to demonstrate their political rights".
Caldicott said that it had taken a full year to collect 350 members for her party's registration and she had only 150 left to collect — unless the amendments get passed. If the membership criteria for a new party is lifted to 1000 members, she will have to drop her plans to run for parliament at the next election.
The Democratic Socialist Party agrees. DSP national secretary John Percy pointed out, "Labor's proposed amendments won't harm any of the parties with federal parliamentarians. Those parties won't have to prove that they meet the membership criteria each year, because they already have elected federal parliamentarians. A $5000 registration fee is not onerous for wealthy parties like the Liberals, the Nationals, Labor and the Democrats".
Ben Oquist, a spokesperson for Australian Greens senator Bob Brown, told Green Left Weekly that the Greens "don't support moves to restrict the registration of new parties".
The Greens think "there should be more parties, not less", he said, although they do think there should be a limit on how many parties a parliamentarian can set up. Oquist said that Brown intends to vote against the proposed amendments.