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