Pridať nové hodnotenie

Do Greens and crossbenchers who claim that transparency and integrity is at the <br> <br> heart 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 against proposed electoral <br> <br> reforms that the major parties look set to come together to support.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The reforms include caps for how much money wealthy individuals <br> <br> can donate, caps on the amount candidates can spend in individual <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> parties currently spend.<br> <br> <br> <br> The proposed new laws also include lower disclosure thresholds for <br> <br> donations, thus increasing the transparency of who <br> <br> makes political donations in the 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 <br> <br> at all will be limited.<br> <br> <br> <br> The bill will further improve transparency by also increasing the speed and frequency that disclosures of donations <br> <br> need to be made.<br> <br> <br> <br> At present we have the absurd situation in which donations get made - but <br> <br> you only find out the details of who has given what to whom <br> <br> many months later, well after elections are won and lost.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> In other words, what is broadly being proposed will result in much greater <br> <br> transparency and far less big money being injected <br> <br> into campaigning by the wealthy.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Teal Kylea Tink claimed the major parties were 'running scared' <br> <br> with the policy and warned the reform would 'not <br> <br> 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 warning shot - saying if it <br> <br> serves only the major parties 'it's a rort, <br> <br> not reform'. Teal independent ACT senator David Pocock (right) said: 'What seems to <br> <br> be happening is a major-party stitch-up'<br> <br> <br> <br> Anyone donating more than $1,000 to a political party, as <br> <br> opposed to $16,000 under the current rules, will need to disclose having done so.<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 new laws,<br> <br> labeling them a 'stitch-up', 'outrageous' and 'a rort, not <br> <br> a reform'. <br> <br> <br> <br> They have lost their collective minds after finding <br> <br> out that Labor's proposal just might secure the support of the opposition.<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>I had to double check who was criticising what exactly <br> <br> before even starting to write this column.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> Because I had assumed - incorrectly - that these important transparency measures stamping out the influence of the wealthy must have been proposed by the virtue-signalling Greens or <br> <br> the corruption-fighting Teals, in a united crossbench <br> <br> effort to drag the major parties closer to accountability.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <i><u>More fool me.</u></i><br> <br> <br> <br> The bill, designed to clean up a rotten system, is being put forward by <br> <br> Labor and is opposed by a growing cabal of crossbenchers.<br> <br> <br> <br> It makes you wonder what they have to hide. Put simply, the Greens and Teals <br> <br> doth protest too much 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> <strong>Another potential target of the laws is businessman and Teal funder <br> <br> Simon Holmes à Court</strong><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The Greens have taken massive donations in the past, contrary to their irregular calls to tighten donations rules <br> <br> (Greens leader Adam Bandt and Senator Mehreen Faruqi are <br> <br> pictured)<br> <br> <br> <br> The major parties have long complained about the influence the likes of Simon Holmes à Court wields behind the scenes amongst the Teals. <br> <br> <br> <br> And we know the Greens have taken massive donations from the wealthy <br> <br> in the past, contrary to their irregular calls to tighten donations <br> <br> rules.<br> <br> <br> <br> Now that tangible change has been proposed, these bastions <br> <br> of virtue are running a mile from reforms that will curtail dark art of political donations.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The Labor government isn't even seeking for these transparency rules to take effect immediately, by the way.<br> <br> It won't be some sort of quick-paced power play before the <br> <br> next election designed to catch the crossbench out.<br> <br> <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 <br> <br> to go over the laws with a fine tooth comb.<br> <br> <br> <br> As they should - because it certainly isn't beyond Labor to include hidden one-party advantages in the proposed design which would create <br> <br> loopholes only the unions are capable of taking advantage of, <br> <br> therefore disadvantaging the Coalition electorally in the years to come.<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, <br> <br> to what is being advocated for.<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>They might even be able to offer something worthwhile that <br> <br> could be incorporated in the package.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> To not do so exposes their utter hypocrisy and blowhard false commentary about being in politics to 'clean things up'.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Feel free to surf to my website ... <a href="https://brandsinsoccer.com/product/%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%8D%E0%B8%B2%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%97/">พวงหรีดปากคลองตลาด</a>
Hodnotenie: 
3
7 + 10 =