Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

In rising to speak to this matter of public importance, I do so supporting the motion of the member for Lyne saying that there is a need for political donation reform. I absolutely concur on that need. And because I am the shadow special minister of state and I also sit on the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, and have taken part in both inquiries that have resulted in the reforms that are proposed—that is, the inquiry into the review of the AEC report on HSU and the earlier report into the funding of political parties in election campaigns—I feel that it is necessary to look at the complexity of the area in order to expand on the case that was put forward by the former Special Minister of State and now Minister for Resources and Energy, the member for Brand.

In the course of the creation of these reports, of course we had many public hearings. In those public hearings we took evidence from a variety of people—some who obviously did not mind coming along and were quite prepared to put in submissions and then be questioned upon them, and others who were obviously more reluctant about giving evidence. I think it is fair to cite a couple of examples that I think highlight the need for this sort of reform. I want to preface my remarks by saying that I believe, and the coalition believes, that it is not only the right and entitlement of individuals and corporations to participate in the political process by raising money, which is used to fight election campaigns, but indeed there is also a moral obligation for those people who benefit from the democratic system and seek the great rewards of being in an open and free society to make a contribution towards its continuance. In our view nothing could be worse than having all political activity funded out of the public purse. That would make us like some of the totalitarian regimes that we have seen in other countries.

The fact that people participate freely and willingly and take part in the fundraising efforts to sustain a political campaign and a political party—as the former Special Minister of State in his speech outlined very simply—although we do not have chook raffles, I don't think, we certainly do have raffles of a different sort and other fund-raising activities, as indeed do Independents and minority parties.

I know that the Greens have been making a great to-do about the fact that the reforms that are coming forward may not be what they have dictated. But I think it is worthwhile going through the evidence that was given to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters regarding the Greens and the fact that they were calling for a $1,000 cap on donations whilst at the same time they accepted a donation of $1.6 million from the founder of Wotif and, against their own internal policies, failed to disclose that donation until after the election. You could be forgiven for thinking that that would be a hypocritical position to take.

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