Coroner & Legal
State political donations reform must be in place by state election …
As Federal Disclosure Threshold Exceed $12,400
The Tasmanian Greens today used Budget Estimate committee hearings to pursue the introduction of state based political donation disclosure reforms, urging that they be in place before the next state election.
Greens Justice spokesperson Kim Booth MP said that the Australian Electoral Commission’s notification earlier this week that the disclosure threshold for political donations is more that $12,400 from July 2013, makes it urgent that state disclosure laws are introduced.
“The lax Federal disclosure laws mean that unless political donations exceed $12,400 the voter will not know who paid what to the federal parties and candidates contesting the September election. And even larger donations will not be disclosed until months after polling day,” Mr Booth said.
“This spells out very clearly why Tasmanians deserve proper state-based political donations disclosure laws in place by the next state election.”
• Greg James, in Comments: Both factions of the government Liberal and ALP accept donations from Federal Hotels. Both factions supported increased numbers of gaming machines and both voted against the introduction of the maximum $1.00 bet. This was contrary to the recommendations of the Productivity Council and according to polls 75% of the population who supported this restriction. Neither party revealed these donations when voting and both parties lied by either omission or by ignoring their own policies. One has to conclude both factions can be bought easily and will do so again and again in the future.