Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

What I say to those opposite is very simple, and it is this: if you feel so strongly about this, there is nothing stopping the Labor Party from voluntarily disclosing every single red cent they get—as Kelvin Thomson, the shadow minister, suggested, until I indicated the huge cost involved in relation to raffle tickets et cetera.

We as a government have held our view on this figure now for 20-plus years. We support it. Sure, there are going to be disagreements about it. But, coming back to Senator Milne’s proposition, there is nothing stopping a family that has 18 children, for example, if they want to, from each individually donating $1,499.99 under the current regime. If people are so minded, good luck to them. But at the end of the day we have a good, robust democracy in this country, but we have a system of disclosure now that I think is unfairly skewed. We need to balance it up to put us in line with countries such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom, both of which have Labour governments and both of which think that the equivalent of $10,000 is the correct threshold. The arguments in this debate have been well rehearsed and the arguers well versed, and I suggest that we no longer filibuster but get on with the votes.