Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, it might stop them, Chair. The fact is that the government members opposite are baying because I am on the money here. They not only want to cut young people’s ability to make late enrolments because, more and more, they are voting for the Greens; they also want to ensure that, when it comes to their support base and the money that rolls in to the Liberal Party, maximum tax deductibility will apply and—worse than that, I think—that secrecy will prevail. We debated that issue last night: $90,000 can come from an organisation under this insidious system without there being any public record of it. It is our job to try to sensibly ensure that our democratic system is more open and accountable than that.

I also want to respond to Senator Abetz’s rabbiting on about the Greens opposing small church groups being involved in the election process. Of course we do not; we support it. But we need it to be an open and identifiable involvement, not a covert matter or a matter of collusion or deception—lying to the Australian public, which is what the Exclusive Brethren engage in.