Live cattle ban in firing line of citizen-initiated referendums, Boswell warns

That’s the warning by former Queensland LNP Senator Ron Boswell who has launched a stinging offensive against his one-time political nemesis Pauline Hanson, raising the alarm about her extreme right wing party’s policy failings.

Mr Boswell retired at the 2013 election after 31 years representing his state but re-entered the political fray this week to vent his fears about One Nation’s lurking policy dangers, following the disastrous preference deal at the March WA election between the Liberals and One Nation and ahead of the next Queensland voter poll.

While pointing out the failings of the WA election result for the Liberals and Nationals, in sending mixed messages to conservative voters, he’s also concerned about the looming threat of citizen-initiated referendums for regional Australians and farmers.

One Nation’s policy statement says such referendums would allow Australians to petition the government and demand a particular issue be put to a binding vote of the whole electorate.

It says the petition could relate to a new law or a law already enacted, or to change the constitution.

“This is democracy at its best,” the policy statement said.

“If Australians collect 2 per cent of elector’s signatures in the form of a petition asking for a referendum, the parliament is obligated to enforce it as law or it must be put to the electorate at the next general election.

“If the petition is to change or alter the constitution is must be put to the people in a referendum.”

The policy also says citizen-initiated referendums have operated in parts of Europe since 1874, in the USA since 1898 and NZ since 1993.

In the US, such ballot measures have been used to introduce votes on changing laws in areas impacting farmers, like legalising marijuana or imposing tougher, impractical rules for caged egg production in California.

A bill sponsored by the Humane Society of the US aimed at animal welfare protection was opposed by farm groups due to impracticality of implementation but it passed in 2008 and ultimately sparked an inter-state commerce dispute, seeking to make it illegal to sell eggs produced outside California that didn’t adhere to the same animal welfare standards.

Critics of the popular votes argue the process undermines representative democracy by removing the ultimate power of elected officials to govern and make decisions and pass legislation.

In a recent opinion article published in other media, Mr Boswell said One Nation’s ideas might sound good, but for regional Australia they’re “catastrophic” like Senator Hanson’s plan to introduce citizen-initiated referendums.

He said such votes would give the public the ability to introduce and replace laws but would threaten the hard-won gains made by regional Australia.

“It’d be pretty easy for the left-wing group GetUp! to lodge a campaign against live cattle exports or kangaroo culling, or for the closure of fishing grounds,” he said.

“These referendums would be used against the interests of regional Australia.

“Voters must understand that governing is complex.

“(Nationals leader) Barnaby Joyce said last week, this isn’t a reality TV show - this is running a country.

“This isn’t just finding a couple of issues that gel with the public and running on them - this is serious stuff.

“Populism just won’t cut it - One Nation thrives on it.”

Speaking to Fairfax Agricultural Media about his latest anti-extremist crusade, Mr Boswell said he’d chosen to speak out because voter polls were saying One Nation was “getting a hold” on voters, including in the federal sphere, “but people don’t know what they’re voting for”.

“What they’re voting for needs to be explained, like Pauline Hanson’s views on citizen initiated referendums where the first thing to go would be live cattle exports,” he said.

“It’s just made for GetUp! and then it’d be kangaroo culling and then fishing.

“Every hard won gain that people have had in the bush would be lost and that’s why you don’t need them.

“It’s all done by the seat of your pants and there’s no research and no consideration.

“All of her policies are just populist thought bubbles that have massive implications and I want people to understand what those implications are and what they’re supporting.”

Mr Boswell said the citizen-initiated referendums were easy to achieve, by acquiring the required number of signatures to bring on a vote but opened the door to tempting perverse outcomes.

“If you say ‘we won’t put up taxes’ everyone will vote for that of course but then all of a sudden there’s no money for the government to pay for policeman or firemen so it’s just a disaster,” he said.

“It’s just made for populist environmental laws, tree clearing laws, the invasion of peoples’ property rights - all those things.

“And you’d have people voting for impractical changes in areas like livestock production which would in fact be worse-off for animal welfare.”

Mr Boswell said the Nationals decided to field a candidate at the second WA election in 2013 even though it was expensive and they were unlikely to win - but the party’s own preferences helped to elect Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds.

“We agreed we could not abandon our Coalition partners - Senator Reynolds won,” he said.

“She acknowledged in her first speech the National Party effort.

“That’s what the Nats do: play as a team.”

But Mr Boswell said it came as “bitter disappointment” when the WA Liberals did a preference deal with One Nation that gave them a foothold in the WA Upper House, at the recent WA election.

He said the preferencing arrangement also sent a “terrible signal” to the WA electorate.

“If the Libs and Nats can’t back each other in their campaign and go to the election as a team, how are you going to run the state as a team?” he said.

“Doing a preference deal with One Nation added doubt and uncertainty to voters’ minds before the campaign even began.”

Mr Boswell said a preference deal wasn’t about simply adding a Liberal vote of 35pc to a One Nation vote of 20pc and getting 55pc and winning because “it doesn’t work that way”.

He said the moderate Liberals get uneasy, don’t want to have any part of a government that relies on One Nation’s support, and go to Labor.

On the other side, some conservative voters believe it’s safe to go direct to One Nation if they were endorsed by the Coalition via a preference deal, he said.

“The primary vote is caught in a pincer movement from the left and right and is reduced to the point where a conservative primary vote can sink low enough to elect a One Nation candidate,” he said.

“Unlike the Greens who are disciplined and follow the how-to-vote card religiously, One Nation preferences spray everywhere and go back to the major party from where the vote originated from.

“A preference swap with One Nation reduces the primary vote; you get your own vote back, less the transaction cost.

“It’s a dud deal.

“The election result was a warning for the conservatives.

“There is no point making ill-advised deals in a panic.”

Mr Boswell also warned about threats to farm trade into markets like the Middle East or Indonesia for live cattle and other agricultural exports due to One Nation’s populist rhetoric and opposition to free trade deals.

He said Senator Hanson’s ideas and policies “must be scrutinised, exposed and explained, and their repercussions pointed out, or voters will not understand the consequences of what they are voting for”.

“Her policies must be challenged by the major parties,” he said.

“This idea that people say ‘we don’t like anyone’ and so they’re not going to vote for any of the major parties is a disaster.

“We have a great democracy in Australia.

“If Pauline Hanson’s vote is high, it reduces the Coalition’s chances, and as I’ve pointed out the best representation for regional Australia is Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals.

“The current Senate cross bench is a by-product of what I’m talking about.

“People have to understand - what have they achieved and what can they achieve when all they’re doing is holding the government back?

“But one of the best ways of achieving anything in rural Australia is having the Liberal and National party there in government to get legislation through to support them.”

Mr Boswell said the Liberals and Nationals should “definitely” not merge in WA, like they are in Queensland as the LNP, because “you water down your representation”.