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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> <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> The reforms include caps for how much money wealthy individuals can donate, caps on the amount candidates can spend <br> <br> in individual electorates to prevent the equivalent of an arms <br> <br> race, and a $90million limit on what any party can spend at an election - actually less than the major parties currently <br> <br> spend.<br> <br> <br> <br> The proposed new laws also include lower disclosure thresholds for <br> <br> donations, thus increasing the transparency of <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> their cash to influence election outcomes - and <br> <br> 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 speed and frequency that disclosures <br> <br> of donations need to be made.<br> <br> <br> <br> At present we have the absurd situation in which <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> won and lost.<br> <br> <br> <br> In other words, what is broadly being proposed will result <br> <br> in much greater transparency and far less big money being injected into campaigning <br> <br> 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 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 serves <br> <br> 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, <br> <br> as 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> <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 reform'. <br> <br> <br> <br> They have lost their collective minds after finding out that Labor's proposal just might <br> <br> secure the support of the opposition.<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>I had to double check who was criticising what <br> <br> exactly before even starting to write this column.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> Because I had assumed - incorrectly - that these important transparency measures stamping <br> <br> out the influence of the wealthy must have been proposed by the virtue-signalling Greens or the corruption-fighting Teals, in a united <br> <br> crossbench effort to drag the major parties closer to accountability.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>More fool me.</b><br> <br> <br> <br> The bill, designed to clean up a rotten system, is being put forward by Labor and <br> <br> 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 on this issue.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>Labor is thought to be trying to muscle out major political <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> (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 à Court <br> <br> wields behind the scenes amongst the Teals. <br> <br> <br> <br> And we know the Greens have taken massive donations from the wealthy in the past, contrary to their <br> <br> irregular calls to tighten donations rules.<br> <br> <br> <br> Now that tangible change has been proposed, these bastions of virtue are running <br> <br> a mile from reforms that will curtail dark art <br> <br> of political donations.<br> <br> <br> <br> The Labor government isn't even seeking for <br> <br> 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 absorb and understand the changes before preparing for them.<br> <br> <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 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 <br> <br> to include hidden one-party advantages in the proposed design which would create loopholes <br> <br> only the unions are capable 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 <br> <br> get these proposed laws implemented, the crossbench should offer their support,<br> <br> not cynical opposition, to what is being advocated for.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <u><strong>They might even be able to offer something worthwhile that could <br> <br> be incorporated in the package.</strong></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> Feel free to visit my webpage - <a href="https://Lastgame.pro/user/WYZDorothea/">คําเขียนหน้าพวงหรีด</a>
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