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Do Greens and crossbenchers who claim that transparency and integrity <br> <br> is at the 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 reforms that the major <br> <br> parties look set to come together to support.<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 <br> <br> prevent the equivalent of an arms race, and a $90million limit on what <br> <br> any party can spend at an election - actually less than the major parties currently spend.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The proposed new laws also include lower disclosure thresholds <br> <br> for donations, thus increasing the transparency <br> <br> 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 extent <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> be made.<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 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 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 <br> <br> scared' 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 - saying <br> <br> if it serves only the major parties 'it's a rort, not reform'. Teal independent ACT senator David Pocock (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,<br> <br> 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 <br> <br> the 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 Labor's proposal just <br> <br> might secure the support of the opposition.<br> <br> <br> <br> I had to double check who was criticising what exactly before even starting to write this column.<br> <br> <br> <br> Because I had assumed - incorrectly - that <br> <br> these important transparency measures stamping out the influence of the wealthy must have been proposed by <br> <br> the virtue-signalling Greens or the corruption-fighting Teals,<br> <br> in a united crossbench effort to drag the major parties closer to accountability.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> More fool me.<br> <br> <br> <br> The bill, designed to clean up a rotten system, <br> <br> is being put forward by Labor and is opposed by a <br> <br> growing cabal of crossbenchers.<br> <br> <br> <br> It makes you wonder what they have to hide. Put simply, the Greens <br> <br> and Teals doth protest too much on this issue.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Labor is thought to be trying to muscle out major political donors such as Clive Palmer<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Another potential target of the laws is businessman and <br> <br> Teal funder Simon Holmes à Court<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The Greens have taken massive donations in the past, contrary to <br> <br> 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 the influence <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> the wealthy in the past, contrary to their irregular calls to tighten donations rules.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Now that tangible change has been proposed, these bastions of virtue are running a mile from reforms <br> <br> that will curtail dark art of political donations.<br> <br> <br> <br> The Labor government isn't even seeking for these transparency rules <br> <br> to take effect immediately, by the way. 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> They are aiming for implementation by 2026, giving everyone <br> <br> enough 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 between Labor and the Coalition. I imagine <br> <br> the opposition want 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 to include hidden one-party advantages in the proposed design which would <br> <br> create loopholes only the unions are capable of taking advantage of, therefore disadvantaging the Coalition electorally in the years to <br> <br> come.<br> <br> <br> <br> But short of such baked-in trickiness scuttling a deal to get these proposed laws <br> <br> implemented, the crossbench should offer their support, not cynical <br> <br> opposition, to what is being advocated for.<br> <br> <br> <br> They might even be able to offer something worthwhile that could be incorporated <br> <br> in the package.<br> <br> <br> <br> To not do so exposes their utter hypocrisy and blowhard false <br> <br> commentary about being in politics to 'clean things up'.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> my webpage ... พวงหรีดใกล้ฉัน - http://Old.Amerit.ORG.Mk/question/ever-heard-about-excessive-%e0%b8%88%e0%b8%b1%e0%b8%94%e0%b8%94%e0%b8%ad%e0%b8%81%e0%b9%84%e0%b8%a1%e0%b9%89%e0%b8%ab%e0%b8%b2%e0%b8%87%e0%b8%99%e0%b8%81%e0%b8%a2%e0%b8%b9%e0%b8%87-effectively-about/
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