Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This motion is a desperate attempt by this government to divert the attention of Australians from its many failures and from its proposed tax attack on Australian families and businesses. The coalition has a proven track record of decisive action in reducing the rate of smoking in Australia and whilst in government presided over the biggest ever fall in smoking rates. As a result, Australia now has one of the lowest smoking rates in the world.

This is not an argument about the consequences or effects of smoking on people's health; it is an argument about the rights of individuals and private companies to make donations to whichever political party they so wish. Donations to political parties are often subject to much discussion, but if a legal business wishes to donate funds to a political party of its choice, it is up to the party organisation to decide whether or not to accept those donations. As former Prime Minister John Howard once stated, if donations were given by corporations and individuals carrying on lawful activities there is no reason in principle why the donations should not be accepted. Is the government really suggesting that they too discriminate in whom they receive donations from?

There will always be differing opinions between individuals and groups, based upon many different factors. Therefore, it cannot be argued that a party is influenced by one or any of its benefactors. Previous speakers have mentioned that the coalition parties have received donations from tobacco companies over the last 10 or 12 years. Equally, the Labor Party has received large donations from its trade union supporters. In fact, over the period 2007 to 2010, it received in excess of $20 million in donations from the union movement. It is interesting to note that in the recent budget the union movement was rewarded with a $10 million allocation for a trade union education foundation grant. Previous to that there was another $10 million allocated to the union movement under the Building Australia's Future Workforce program. Equally, if we go a little bit further back in time, we see that the ALP is hypocritical in pursuing this motion when you consider its historical dealings with the Australian National Audit Office in 1993, with a lease that was above market rates of rent and above market rates of annual increases, the end result being that Australian taxpayers have paid more than $36 million over and above the standard market rates of rent for the period of the lease.

The Leader of the Opposition has a strong track record in relation to dealing with the health issues faced from smoking. When health minister, he was responsible for the introduction of the graphic warnings on cigarette packets that we see today. That was made compulsory. Under the coalition government smoking rates declined from a bit over 21 per cent in 1998 to approximately 17 per cent in 2007. These rates were the lowest smoking rates in the world. It was also the coalition that first proposed an increase in the tobacco excise, back in 2009, a measure that has now been adopted by the government.

Any suggestion that we are soft on tobacco companies is just plain nonsense, and the coalition's track record shows this quite clearly. Accepting donations from a particular corporation or organisation does not mean that a party changes its views. Any party should be able to accept donations from any local business or other organisation.

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