John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

What a load of nonsense. Every day in Europe we are being encouraged to have qualified majority voting and to eliminate vetoes. The Senator's amendment proposes to reintroduce a veto. This will give one party or perhaps a small group of Independents an effective veto. Our parliamentary democracy does not work on this basis but on the basis of a majority. This amendment would confer on a single party not just a veto on e-voting but a veto on all aspects of the system. This would cut the ground from under the commission, about which the Senator was very enthusiastic and for which he claimed credit. It might as well not exist because when it reports a party could veto its recommendations.