Pridať nové hodnotenie

Do Greens and crossbenchers who claim that transparency and integrity is <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> 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 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 <br> <br> parties currently spend.<br> <br> <br> <br> The proposed new laws also include lower disclosure thresholds for donations, thus <br> <br> increasing the transparency of who makes political donations <br> <br> in the first place.<br> <br> <br> <br> So the wealthy wont be able to hide behind anonymity while using their cash to influence election outcomes - <br> <br> and the extent to which they can use their wealth at all will be limited.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The bill will further improve transparency by also <br> <br> increasing the speed and frequency that disclosures of donations need <br> <br> to 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 <br> <br> given what to whom 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 <br> <br> transparency and far less big money being injected into campaigning by <br> <br> the wealthy.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Teal Kylea Tink claimed the major parties were 'running scared' with the policy and warned <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> independent ACT senator David Pocock (right) said:<br> <br> '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 <br> <br> 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> Yet the Greens and Teals have quickly condemned the <br> <br> proposed new laws, labeling them a 'stitch-up', 'outrageous' <br> <br> 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 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 these important <br> <br> transparency measures stamping out the influence of <br> <br> the wealthy must have been proposed by the virtue-signalling Greens or the corruption-fighting Teals, in a united crossbench <br> <br> 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, is being <br> <br> 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 Teals doth <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> as Clive Palmer<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Another potential target of the laws is businessman and Teal <br> <br> 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 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 <br> <br> influence 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 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 <br> <br> a mile from reforms that will curtail dark art of political donations.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The Labor government isn't even seeking for these transparency rules to take effect immediately, by <br> <br> the way. It won't be some sort of quick-paced power play <br> <br> before 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 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 to include <br> <br> hidden one-party advantages in the proposed design which would create loopholes only the unions are <br> <br> 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 get these proposed laws implemented, <br> <br> the crossbench should offer their support, not cynical opposition, to what is <br> <br> being advocated for.<br> <br> <br> <br> They might even be able to offer something worthwhile that could be <br> <br> incorporated in the package.<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 site - ขาย wine - http://xmzjxx.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=987877
Hodnotenie: 
3
1 + 19 =