STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms COKER (Corangamite) (13:41): Last year I described to the chamber how groups of Liberal volunteers linked to the Exclusive Brethren blocked me from speaking to my own voters on election booths. The Liberal Party's secret campaign review simply said this about the Brethren: 'Some campaigns were grateful for the assistance of volunteers who were also members of the Plymouth Brethren.' They were divided in opinion about the value of having Plymouth Brethren members handing out Liberal how-to-vote cards.

A more honest Liberal veteran told the Age, 'I'm glad we didn't win, because I was scared about what that would have meant'. Another Liberal insider said: So many of our candidates would have been beholden to the Brethren—and I think they would have made policy demands. You don't put that sort of money in if you don't want something.

You want control of the morality of the country, the views of the government. We still don't know what the Liberal Party agreed to in order to get these Brethren volunteers on those booths. They should be honest with the Australian people about it.

Democracy matters, and, in order for democracy to thrive, people should not feel intimidated at polling booths; they should feel safe. I call on the Liberals to show more integrity and come clean on what was an attack on our democracy.