SENATOR DON FARRELL
SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE
SHADOW SPECIAL MINISTER OF STATE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SPORT
MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
TURNBULL BLOCKING POLITICAL DONATIONS TRANSPARENCY
Turnbull's extraordinary attack on Queensland's political donation thresholds proves the Liberals will do anything to avoid improved transparency in Australia's democratic processes.
It is outrageous that the Prime Minister would have the Attorney General interfere in Queensland electoral law, using taxpayer money, just so they can continue to hide the identity of their dodgy donor mates.
When it comes to donation reform, Labor has always been the party of action.
The Hawke Labor Government set a political donation disclosure threshold of $1500 and introduced public funding, reducing political parties reliance on donations.
The Howard Coalition Government undid that good work when it raised the threshold to $10,000 in 2006 and indexed it to the Consumer Price Index, which has since seen the threshold blow out to $13,500.
Labor is proud to have continually fought for improved transparency and greater accountability.
We took a policy of significant donation reform to the last election and, in 2016 introduced legislation in the Parliament to deliver our plan, which will:
- Require all donations over $1000 to be disclosed;
- Ban foreign donations;
- Ban donation splitting;
- Ban anonymous donations above $50;
- Link public funding to campaign expenditure;
- Introduce new offences and increase penalties for breaches;
- Support real time disclosure.
WEDNESDAY, 16 MAY 2018
