On the 22 February 2016 the House referred the provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016 to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters for inquiry and tabled its Advisory report on 2 March 2016.

The Bill proposes to:

• reduce the complexity of the Senate voting system, by providing for partial optional preferential voting above the line, including the introduction of advice on the Senate ballot paper that voters number, in order of preference, at least six squares;

• provide appropriate vote savings provisions to capture voter intent and reduce the risk of increased vote informality, including by improving vote savings provisions for below the line voting;

• improve transparency around the allocation of preferences in a Senate election, by abolishing group and individual voting tickets, noting that this does not change other provisions relating to candidates nominating to be grouped on the Senate ballot paper;

• introduce a restriction that there be a unique registered officer and deputy registered officer for a federally registered party; and

• reduce the confusion that may arise with political parties with similar names, by allowing party logos to be printed on ballot papers for both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The Committee invited interested persons and organisations to make submissions into the provisions of the bill by close of business Monday 29 February 2016.