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Do Greens and crossbenchers who claim that <br> <br> transparency and integrity is at the heart of their reason for <br> <br> 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 reforms that the major <br> <br> parties look set to 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 race, and a $90million limit on what any party can spend at an election - actually less than the major parties currently spend.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> The proposed new laws also include lower disclosure thresholds <br> <br> for donations, thus increasing the transparency of who makes political <br> <br> donations 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 - and the extent to which they can use their wealth at all <br> <br> will be limited.<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 donations get made - but you only find out <br> <br> the details of who has given what to whom many months later, <br> <br> well after elections are won and lost.<br> <br> <br> <br> In other words, what is broadly being proposed will result in much <br> <br> 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 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 only the <br> <br> major parties 'it's a rort, not reform'. Teal <br> <br> 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, as opposed to $16,000 under <br> <br> 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 proposed new <br> <br> 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> I had to double check who was criticising what exactly before even starting to <br> <br> write this column.<br> <br> <br> <br> Because I had assumed - incorrectly - that these important <br> <br> transparency measures stamping out the influence of the wealthy must have been proposed by the virtue-signalling Greens or <br> <br> the corruption-fighting Teals, in a united crossbench effort to drag the major <br> <br> parties closer to accountability.<br> <br> <br> <br> More fool me.<br> <br> <br> <br> The bill, designed to clean up a rotten system, is being put forward <br> <br> 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.<br> <br> Put simply, the Greens and Teals doth protest too much on this <br> <br> issue.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Labor is thought to be trying to muscle out major political 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 <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 <br> <br> calls to tighten donations rules (Greens leader Adam Bandt and Senator Mehreen Faruqi are <br> <br> pictured)<br> <br> <br> <br> The major parties have long complained about the influence the likes of Simon Holmes à Court wields behind the scenes amongst the <br> <br> 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 <br> <br> virtue are running a mile from reforms that will curtail <br> <br> dark art of political donations.<br> <br> <br> <br> The Labor government isn't even seeking for these transparency <br> <br> rules to take effect immediately, by the way.<br> <br> 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 <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 opposition want to <br> <br> go over the laws with a fine tooth comb.<br> <br> <br> <br> As they should - because it certainly isn't beyond Labor to include hidden one-party advantages <br> <br> in the proposed design which would create loopholes only the unions <br> <br> are capable of taking advantage of, therefore disadvantaging <br> <br> the Coalition electorally in the years to come.<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 being advocated for.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> They might even be able to offer something worthwhile <br> <br> that could be incorporated in the package.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> To not do so exposes their utter hypocrisy and blowhard false <br> <br> commentary about being in politics to 'clean things up'.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Also visit my web-site; ภาพพวงหรีดงานศพ - https://online-Learning-Initiative.org/wiki/index.php/User:ClarkPetrie871
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