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