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Do Greens and crossbenchers who claim that transparency <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> arguments against proposed electoral reforms that the <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> an election - actually less than the major parties currently spend.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The proposed new laws also include lower disclosure thresholds for donations,<br> <br> thus increasing the transparency of who makes political donations in the <br> <br> first place.<br> <br> <br> <br> So the wealthy wont be able to hide behind anonymity <br> <br> while using their cash to influence election outcomes - and the <br> <br> extent to which they can use their wealth at all will <br> <br> be limited.<br> <br> <br> <br> The bill will further improve transparency by also increasing <br> <br> the speed and frequency that disclosures of <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> has given what to whom many months later, well after elections <br> <br> are won and lost.<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> <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 - <br> <br> saying if it serves only the major parties 'it's a rort, not reform'. Teal <br> <br> independent ACT senator David Pocock (right) said:<br> <br> 'What seems to be happening is a major-party <br> <br> stitch-up'<br> <br> <br> <br> Anyone donating more than $1,000 to a political party, as opposed to $16,000 under the current rules,<br> <br> will need to disclose having done so. And how much they <br> <br> can donate will be capped.<br> <br> <br> <br> Yet the Greens and Teals have quickly condemned the proposed 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 <br> <br> proposal just might secure the support of the opposition.<br> <br> <br> <br> <b>I had to double check who was criticising what exactly before even starting to <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> have been proposed by 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> <b><u>More fool me.</u></b><br> <br> <br> <br> The bill, designed to clean up a rotten system, is being put forward 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. Put simply, the Greens and <br> <br> Teals 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> <b>Another potential target of the laws is businessman and Teal funder <br> <br> 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, contrary to their irregular calls to tighten donations <br> <br> rules (Greens 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 <br> <br> amongst the 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 to tighten donations rules.<br> <br> <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 rules to take effect immediately, by the way.<br> <br> It won't be some sort of quick-paced power play before the next <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> before preparing for them.<br> <br> <br> <br> Don't get me wrong, no deal has yet been done between Labor and the Coalition. I imagine the <br> <br> opposition want to go over the laws with a fine tooth <br> <br> 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 loopholes only the unions are capable of taking advantage <br> <br> of, therefore disadvantaging the Coalition electorally in the years <br> <br> to come.<br> <br> <br> <br> But short of such baked-in trickiness scuttling a deal to get these <br> <br> proposed laws implemented, the crossbench should <br> <br> offer their support, not cynical opposition, to what is being advocated for.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <b>They might even be able to offer something worthwhile that 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 <br> <br> to 'clean things up'.<br> <br> <br> <br> my homepage: <a href="https://Shorl.com/dryvydetegemi">ดอกไม้ไว้อาลัย สีดำ</a>
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