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Do Greens and crossbenchers who claim that transparency and integrity is at the <br> <br> heart of their reason for entering Parliament in the first place hear themselves?<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> In the past few days they have mounted self-serving arguments against <br> <br> proposed electoral reforms that the major parties look <br> <br> set to come together to support.<br> <br> <br> <br> The reforms include caps for how much money wealthy <br> <br> individuals can donate, caps on the amount candidates can spend in individual electorates to prevent the equivalent of <br> <br> an arms race, and a $90million limit on what any party <br> <br> can spend at 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 <br> <br> donations, thus increasing the transparency of who makes political donations in the first <br> <br> place.<br> <br> <br> <br> So the wealthy wont be able to hide behind anonymity while using their cash <br> <br> to influence election outcomes - and the extent to which they can use their wealth at all will be <br> <br> limited.<br> <br> <br> <br> The bill will further improve transparency by also increasing <br> <br> the speed and frequency that disclosures of donations need to be made.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> At present we have the absurd situation in which donations get made - <br> <br> but you only find out the details of who has given what to whom 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 <br> <br> big money being injected into campaigning by the wealthy.<br> <br> <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 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 - <br> <br> saying if it serves only the major parties 'it's a rort, <br> <br> not reform'. Teal independent ACT senator David <br> <br> Pocock (right) said: 'What seems to be happening is a <br> <br> major-party 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, will need to <br> <br> disclose having done so. And how much they can donate will be <br> <br> capped.<br> <br> <br> <br> Yet the Greens and Teals have quickly condemned 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 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 transparency measures <br> <br> stamping out the influence of the wealthy must 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> More fool me.<br> <br> <br> <br> The bill, designed to clean up a rotten system, 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 and Teals doth protest too much on this issue.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Labor is thought to be trying to muscle out major political <br> <br> 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 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 their irregular calls <br> <br> to tighten donations rules (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 wields <br> <br> 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 irregular calls to tighten donations <br> <br> rules.<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 <br> <br> of political donations.<br> <br> <br> <br> The Labor government isn't even seeking for these transparency rules to take effect <br> <br> immediately, by the way. It won't be some sort of quick-paced power play before <br> <br> the next election designed to catch the crossbench out.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> They are aiming for implementation by 2026, giving <br> <br> everyone enough time to absorb and understand the changes before preparing <br> <br> 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 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 create loopholes only the unions are capable of taking <br> <br> advantage of, therefore disadvantaging the Coalition electorally in the years to come.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> But short of such baked-in trickiness scuttling a deal to get these proposed <br> <br> laws implemented, the crossbench should offer their support, not <br> <br> cynical 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 commentary about being in politics to 'clean things up'.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> my web blog - ขาตั้งพวงหรีด ขาย <br> <br> - http://old.Amerit.Org.mk/question/how-to-begin-a-enterprise-with-%e0%b9%81%e0%b8%9e%e0%b9%87%e0%b8%84%e0%b9%80%e0%b8%81%e0%b8%88-%e0%b8%a5%e0%b8%b2%e0%b8%94%e0%b8%9a%e0%b8%b1%e0%b8%a7%e0%b8%82%e0%b8%b2%e0%b8%a7/
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