Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a question for the Prime Minister. Today's US election reminds us how fragile democracy is. Australia is not immune to the mistrust we see in the US. There is increasing suspicion that politicians are acting in the interests of airlines, fossil fuels or gambling companies, unions or a political party instead of all Australians. Voters deserve to know who is funding all political candidates before they vote. Will the government legislate real-time donation disclosure in time to make our next federal election transparent?

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No. If anyone thinks that was acceptable, particularly members on my left, yelling out snide remarks while the member was asking her question, you haven't been paying attention. Unbelievable! The member is entitled to ask her question without comments, without remarks. You mightn't like what a member is saying, but that's the nature of question time. I don't like it either. The member will begin her question again. We are going to keep resetting this until we get it right. The member for Curtin has the call.

Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a question for the Prime Minister. Today's US election reminds us how fragile democracy is. Australia is not immune to the mistrust that we see in the US. There is increasing suspicion that politicians are acting in the interests of airlines, fossil fuel or gambling companies, unions or a political party instead of all Australians. Voters deserve to know who is funding all political candidates before they vote. Will the government legislate real-time donation disclosure in time to make our next federal election transparent?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin for her question. Indeed, democracy is something that must be cherished and must be nurtured. It cannot be taken for granted. We see in many surveys around the world that younger people in particular, when asked about different political systems, do not necessarily automatically go towards democracy. It is why we have to have a transparent system.

I can confirm that I have been working, as the leader of the government, to increase transparency, including on funding issues. Indeed, just this morning I had another constructive discussion with the Special Minister of State, Senator Farrell, about these issues.

We believe in lower donation thresholds. We've done that; we took that to elections for a long period of time. We believe that the abuse we've seen, to name someone—I'm not picking on him, but the contribution that Clive Palmer makes to donations is something that distorts the political system. We think that something must be done about that to make sure we continue to have a political system in which we encourage people to participate, including through political parties and their membership. We are working through those things, as you are aware as a member of the crossbench. Some of the crossbench and their supporters have had very strong views about the timing of changes that come through. They haven't been consistent, it must be said, with the view just put by the member for Curtin. Certainly, some of the backers of people who've been independent candidates have expressed the opposite view, to be very clear, to what the member for Curtin has put forward.

But what we will do is continue to work through this with the parliament. We want to make sure there's increased transparency. We want to make sure that there's increased trust as well in the political system. That is one of the reasons why I have been so determined to make a difference that is practical in order to ensure that people aren't left behind by the political system. It's something that drives our policy agenda. It's one of the reasons why we made the announcements we did on Sunday, because people feel like they haven't got enough of a voice, particularly young people, in our political system. But we will work through it, as an electoral issue and as a policy issue, to make sure that people understand that our democracy works for them.