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Do Greens and crossbenchers who claim that transparency and integrity is at the heart <br> <br> of their reason for entering Parliament in the first place hear themselves?<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> In the past few days they have mounted self-serving arguments <br> <br> against proposed electoral reforms that the major parties look set to come together to support.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The reforms include caps for how much money wealthy individuals can donate, caps on the amount candidates can spend in individual electorates to prevent the equivalent of an arms race,<br> <br> and a $90million limit on what any party can spend at an election - actually less than the major parties currently spend.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The proposed new laws also include lower disclosure thresholds for <br> <br> donations, thus increasing the transparency of who makes political donations in the <br> <br> first place.<br> <br> <br> <br> So the wealthy wont be able to hide behind anonymity while using their cash to influence election outcomes <br> <br> - and the extent to which they can use their wealth at all will be limited.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The bill will further improve transparency by also increasing the <br> <br> speed and frequency that disclosures of donations need to be made.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> At present we have the absurd situation in which donations get made <br> <br> - but you only find out the details of who has given what to whom many months later, well after elections are won and lost.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> In other words, what is broadly being proposed <br> <br> will result in much greater transparency and far less big money being injected into <br> <br> campaigning by the wealthy.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Teal Kylea Tink claimed the major parties were 'running scared' with the policy <br> <br> and warned the reform would 'not stop the rot' <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Greens senate leader Larissa Waters (left) fired a <br> <br> warning shot - saying if it serves only the major parties 'it's a rort, not <br> <br> reform'. Teal independent ACT senator David Pocock (right) said: <br> <br> 'What seems to be happening is a major-party stitch-up'<br> <br> <br> <br> Anyone donating more than $1,000 to a political party, as opposed to $16,000 under the current rules, will need to disclose having done so.<br> <br> <br> <br> And how much they can donate will be capped.<br> <br> <br> <br> Yet the Greens and Teals have quickly condemned the proposed <br> <br> new laws, labeling them a 'stitch-up', 'outrageous' and 'a rort, not a <br> <br> reform'. <br> <br> <br> <br> They have lost their collective minds after finding out that Labor's proposal just might secure the support of <br> <br> the opposition.<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>I had to double check who was criticising what exactly before even starting to write this column.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> Because I had assumed - incorrectly - that these important transparency measures <br> <br> stamping out the influence of the wealthy must have been proposed by the virtue-signalling Greens or the corruption-fighting <br> <br> Teals, in a united crossbench effort to drag the major parties <br> <br> closer to accountability.<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>More fool me.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> The bill, designed to clean up a rotten system, is <br> <br> being put forward by Labor and is opposed by a growing cabal of crossbenchers.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> It makes you wonder what they have to hide. Put simply, the Greens and Teals doth protest too much <br> <br> on this issue.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>Labor is thought to be trying to muscle out major political donors such as Clive Palmer</b><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>Another potential target of the laws is businessman and Teal funder Simon Holmes à Court</b><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The Greens have taken massive donations in the past, <br> <br> contrary to their irregular calls to tighten donations rules (Greens <br> <br> leader Adam Bandt and Senator Mehreen Faruqi are pictured)<br> <br> <br> <br> The major parties have long complained about <br> <br> the influence the likes of Simon Holmes à Court wields behind the scenes amongst the <br> <br> Teals. <br> <br> <br> <br> And we know the Greens have taken massive donations from the wealthy in the past, contrary <br> <br> to their irregular calls to tighten donations rules.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Now that tangible change has been proposed, these bastions of <br> <br> virtue are running a mile from reforms that will curtail <br> <br> dark art of political donations.<br> <br> <br> <br> The Labor government isn't even seeking for these transparency rules to take effect immediately, <br> <br> by the way. It won't be some sort of quick-paced power play before the next <br> <br> election designed to catch the crossbench out.<br> <br> <br> <br> They are aiming for implementation by 2026, giving everyone enough time to <br> <br> absorb and understand the changes before preparing for them.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Don't get me wrong, no deal has yet been done between Labor and the Coalition. I imagine the opposition want to go over <br> <br> the laws with a fine tooth comb.<br> <br> <br> <br> As they should - because it certainly isn't beyond Labor to <br> <br> include hidden one-party advantages in the proposed design which would create loopholes only the unions are capable of taking advantage <br> <br> of, therefore disadvantaging the Coalition electorally in the years to come.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> But short of such baked-in trickiness scuttling a deal to get these proposed laws implemented, <br> <br> the crossbench should offer their support, not cynical opposition, to what is <br> <br> being advocated for.<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>They might even be able to offer something worthwhile that could be incorporated in the package.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> To not do so exposes their utter hypocrisy and <br> <br> blowhard false commentary about being in politics <br> <br> to 'clean things up'.<br> <br> <br> <br> Here is my web-site - <a href="http://www.besatime.com/user/BertTalbert6937/">ดอกไม้ไว้อาลัย สีดำ</a>
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