The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has joined members of the federal crossbench to respond to the Government’s apparent scrapping of the Labor and Liberal parties’ proposal to increase public funding for political parties and independents.
“I’m heartened to see that Labor and the Liberals have apparently seen sense and binned their outrageous proposal to harvest more cash from taxpayers,” Mr Wilkie said.
“This is a victory for common sense and public opinion.
“The proposal by Labor and Liberal for all political parties, and successful independent candidates, to be paid an additional $1 for every vote was a dreadful decision entirely out of step with community expectations.
“The challenge now is to salvage any good aspects of this Bill, and in particular the move to lower the threshold for the declaration of donations.
“My position remains that I would not have supported the original Bill if it had come to the Parliament, and I would have exercised the opt-out provision not to receive any money if the Bill had passed.”
Andrew Wilkie MP, Independent Member for Denison
