Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I have been in this place for almost five years. I was an environmental lawyer for almost 10 years before coming here. The commonality between both of those roles has been what I think of as the corrupting influence of the big mining sector. I have often pondered why that is. When you look at the actual contribution that that sector makes to our employment, it is about two per cent, if that. The contribution it makes to GDP is minuscule. Why do these people have so much influence? I ponder that.

Every year, of course, we get the donations disclosure. We have heard that, in the last three years, both big parties have received $3.7 million from the fossil fuel sector—the big miners, the coal seam gas companies, you name it. That is only federally. There are more donations at the state level. We know that, at the federal level, Labor has received about $1.1 million over the last three years, the Liberals have got $3.3 million and the Nationals have got about $200,000. As I say, it does not include the $200,000 given by Santos to the Nationals in South Australia. What do the mining companies get for these generous donations? Well, they get their approvals, don't they? I have been tracking this. There has not been a coalmine refused under our federal laws in history. That has not been a coal seam gas project refused under our federal laws in history. You have to wonder why, given that the science is perfectly clear: we are in an age of global warming. These industries are damaging our land and our water. They are ripping apart our communities and they are threatening communities' health. Yet we have fantastic clean energy alternatives that are job-rich and do not trash the place. So why? Well, those donations speaks volumes. You have to wonder, if the renewable energy sector donated half as much, whether we would have seen the renewable energy target slashed in this place, with both parties ganging up to vote for that.

What else do they get for their donations? They get a massive pay-off. They get billions in fossil fuel subsidies. They get taxpayer handouts to the tune of about $14 billion over four years. They get cheap fuel. You and I do not get that; the big miners get that. They get accelerated depreciation on their assets and they get a tax break to do production and exploration. If you tally that up, you get about $14 billion over four years. That means that, for every dollar they are donating to the big parties, they are getting more than $2,000 back from the taxpayer purse. What a lark!

Of course, we want to abolish those fossil fuel subsidies and use that money for something useful, like health, like education and like acting on global warming. But it begs the question: what do the political parties get out of this cushy arrangement? Well, they get their multimillion-dollar war chests that they can use to fight elections to try to pretend they have some values or some principles, and of course they get the cushy jobs once they leave this place. I have a depressingly long list here of jobs held by former politicians who now work for the big mining sector. John Anderson, former Nationals leader and in fact Deputy Prime Minister, went to be Chairman of Eastern Star Gas. Mark Vaile became a director and Chairman of Whitehaven Coal. Martin Ferguson is now on the APPEA Advisory Board—that is the coal seam gas lobby group. Craig Emerson now works for Santos, another big coal seam gas company. Greg Combet went to be a consultant to AGL. Sadly, I am running out of time, but the list goes on.

What are we going to do about this? Ban political donations. They are corrupting the system. We have a bill before this place that I hope to bring on and debate very soon—and I hope we get some support, but I am not holding my breath—to ban donations from the mining sector, from property developers, from the alcohol industry, from the tobacco industry and from the gambling industry. Our democracy needs to be beyond reproach and, sadly, these donations are corrupting the system and leading to an absolute lack of faith amongst the public. That is why the vote for the major parties is so down.