Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. I was just saying that it's important that we respect democratic mandates and that, if we're looking to improve our democracy and make sure that we have integrity in our political parties, we also need to listen to the voices of the states and decisions that voters make at a state level, including the message they very clearly sent about the $1.2 billion locked up in the budget—taxpayer money held hostage for the member for Tangney. But he's asked me to move on, so I will.

These bills are about increasing integrity in our electoral system, but they have nothing to do with one of the most important integrity issues in our electoral system: political donations. One of the many important reforms introduced by the Hawke Labor government was to bring transparency into political donations. That bill was introduced by the Special Minister of State, now the Governor of Western Australia, Kim Beazley. Since 1983 we've seen the details of many political donations made in Australia. The vast majority of political funding in Australia comes from private donations. But let's look at the big donations. It was in 2010 that the Greens political party accepted the then biggest ever single political donation in Australian political history. The Greens political party accepted a single $1.6 million cheque, and what happened? At the next election, the member for Melbourne became the first of the Greens elected to the House of Representatives, off the back of a $1.6 million donation to the Greens political party. We then saw the then leader of the Liberal Party, the then Prime Minister, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull—never one who likes to be outdone—choosing to dig into his own wallet with a $1.75 million donation.

Then we get to the 2019 election campaign and along comes the biggest political donor of all, Clive Palmer, chipping in some $89 million into his own election campaign. We know the help that was provided by Clive Palmer to the government. They're sitting on the government benches today in part because of the contributions that Clive Palmer made to that election in 2019. We saw them pay that back in a pretty ridiculous and radical way when the Prime Minister decided, along with the member for Pearce, to back Clive Palmer in the High Court. They take direct donations as well from Mr Palmer. We know that Mr Palmer donated $75,000 directly to the National Party. That was revealed earlier this year. When it comes to confidence in our democracy, which these bills seek to address, there's no doubt that Clive Palmer has done a lot of damage to confidence in our democracy. We had his $89 million ego trip, but you used to be able to say that at least Clive Palmer was upfront about it. He always put his name to everything he did, but now he won't even do that. Now he's going to hide his involvement from Australians, trying to sneak his way back into politics.

In June the Australian Electoral Commission provided public notice of the proposed name change for the Palmer party. The Clive Palmer's United Australia Party was to become the United Australia Party. This was an attempt by Palmer to hide from Western Australia. Palmer knows that Western Australians will never forget that in the middle of a pandemic he tried to rip open WA's borders. Fortunately, Western Australians stood up to Clive Palmer, which is something that those on the government benches did not have the integrity to do. Instead, they supported him. I stood in this chamber while I was heckled by members of the WA Liberal Party, backing Clive Palmer, even though not only was Clive Palmer morally wrong; he was wrong in law. His case was legally unsound. Clive Palmer should not be allowed to hide. I have tried to stop him. I have written to the Electoral Commission, opposing his attempts to hide his name from the political party which he owns and funds. But, if he's going to continue to try and manipulate state and federal elections, I'll continue to fight against him.

What we've got now is, not only does Clive Palmer have a strong supporter in the Lodge—we have the so-called modern Liberals, and now we have the Palmer Liberals. Craig Kelly is the newest recruit, having jumped out of the Liberal Party party room straight into Clive Palmer's heavily funded political machine designed to drive preferences to the Liberal Party. They drove preferences to the Liberal Party in the electorate of Perth, where they preferenced the Liberals. They drove preferences and helped elect Liberal Party senators, where they preferenced the Liberals in the Senate.

This government needs to give up on its addiction to Clive Palmer. Only then will they be serious about their commitment to democracy. (Time expired)

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