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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 can donate, <br> <br> caps on the amount candidates can spend in individual electorates to prevent the <br> <br> equivalent of an arms race, and a $90million limit on what any party can spend at an election - actually <br> <br> less than the major parties currently spend.<br> <br> <br> <br> The proposed new laws also include lower disclosure thresholds for donations, thus increasing the transparency of who makes political donations in the first place.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> So the wealthy wont be able to hide behind anonymity while using their cash to influence election outcomes - and the <br> <br> extent to which they can use their wealth at <br> <br> all will be limited.<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 - but you only find out the details of who has given what to <br> <br> whom many months later, well after elections are won and lost.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> In other words, what is broadly being proposed will result in much greater transparency and far less big money being injected into campaigning by the wealthy.<br> <br> <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 stop the <br> <br> 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 - <br> <br> saying if it serves only the major parties 'it's a rort, not reform'. Teal independent ACT senator David Pocock <br> <br> (right) said: '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 <br> <br> rules, will need to disclose having done so. And how much they can donate will be <br> <br> capped.<br> <br> <br> <br> Yet the Greens and Teals have quickly condemned the <br> <br> proposed new laws, labeling them a 'stitch-up',<br> <br> 'outrageous' and 'a rort, not a reform'. <br> <br> <br> <br> They have lost their collective minds after finding out that <br> <br> Labor's proposal just might secure the support of the opposition.<br> <br> <br> <br> <u><i>I had to double check who was criticising what exactly before even starting to write this column.</i></u><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 <br> <br> by the virtue-signalling Greens or the corruption-fighting Teals, in a <br> <br> united crossbench effort to drag the major parties closer to accountability.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <strong><u>More fool me.</u></strong><br> <br> <br> <br> The bill, designed to clean up a rotten system, is being put forward <br> <br> 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.<br> <br> Put simply, the Greens and Teals doth protest too much on this issue.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <u>Labor is thought to be trying to muscle out major political donors such as Clive Palmer</u><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <u>Another potential target of the laws is businessman and Teal funder Simon Holmes à Court</u><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 <br> <br> tighten donations rules (Greens leader Adam Bandt and Senator Mehreen Faruqi are pictured)<br> <br> <br> <br> The major parties have long complained about the influence the likes of Simon Holmes <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> wealthy in the past, contrary to their irregular calls <br> <br> to tighten donations rules.<br> <br> <br> <br> Now that tangible change has been proposed, <br> <br> these bastions 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 <br> <br> rules to take effect immediately, by the way.<br> <br> <br> <br> It won't be some sort of quick-paced power play before <br> <br> the next election designed to catch the crossbench out.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> They are aiming for implementation by 2026, giving everyone enough <br> <br> time to 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 <br> <br> 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> <br> <br> As they should - because it certainly isn't beyond Labor <br> <br> to include hidden one-party advantages in the proposed design which would <br> <br> create loopholes only the unions are capable <br> <br> of taking advantage of, 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, to what is being advocated for.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <u><i>They might even be able to offer something worthwhile that could be incorporated in the package.</i></u><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> my website: <a href="https://Oliviath.com/uncategorized/%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%89%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%A7%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%A2-%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B4/">ดอกไม้ไว้อาลัย ศาสนาคริสต์</a>
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