Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022

The majority voted against a second reading amendment introduced by Queensland Senator Pauline Hanson (One Nation), which means it failed. It would have added the text below to the usual second reading amendment: "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill).

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes that holding referendums separately to a federal election costs the Australian public more than holding referendums simultaneously with a federal election; and

(b) calls on the Government to manage the process to ensure that if the Voice to Parliament referendum is to proceed that it is held in conjunction with the next federal election".