Passes the Buck to the National Arena Again
www.tas.greens.org.au
The Tasmanian Greens today accused the Bartlett Government of rejecting any responsibility to implement a finding of the Joint Select Committee on Ethical Conduct regarding state political donations law reform.
Greens Leader Nick McKim MP said that the government’s response to this important democratic reform recommendation is to just reiterate a call for a nationally consistent approach, which does not address the specific recommendation that the State’s Electoral Act 2004 be reviewed to provide for donation disclosure.
“The Bartlett Government’s feeble response to a specific Parliamentary Committee recommendation to implement state political donation law reform, is just another exercise in buck-passing and abrogating responsibility,” Mr McKim said.
“The Joint Select Parliamentary Committee specifically recommended that a review of the Electoral Act 2004 be conducted to provide for the disclosure of the identity of sponsors of political advertising conducted by persons or organisations other than political parties during election campaigns, and Labor has failed to commit to doing so.”
“Lets be clear about this, Labor’s refusal to take the recommended action is a rejection of that recommendation.”
“This is just another delaying mechanism to ensure that Tasmanians will go to the ballot box next year without knowing who has donated how much money to whom.”
“Clearly keeping state political donations secret is just the way Labor likes it, especially in the lead up to the 2010 election.”
Reference: Tasmanian Government Response to Recommendations in the Final Report of the Joint Select Committee on Ethical Conduct (“Public Office is Public Trust”), 4 November 2009, pg 16.
Nick McKim MP Greens Leader
