Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to make a contribution to this debate. Senator Ludlam accused Labor Party spokespeople here of being boring. I would rather be boring than be dumb. I would rather be boring than be absolutely ripped off by the coalition, showing your inexperience, showing your leader's lack of capacity to negotiate, showing your leader's glass jaw. I was listening earlier and I heard Senator Di Natale say, 'I was not going to make a contribution here.' He was going to be the leader. He was going to sit back and be the leader and let the debate take place. But as soon as he was criticised he was on his feet. What a glass jaw this guy has. If you add the glass jaw to the lack of capacity to negotiate and the incompetence, the coalition have taken your playlunch off you guys.

You come here and you talk about democracy and you talk about great democratic changes. There are two issues that really go to the issue of democracy. One is the misuse of funding in the electoral process. You are well aware of it, and you had an opportunity to deal with that issue as part of the negotiations for your capitulation on the electoral bill. You could have dealt with that funding issue, but either you did not have the intellect or you did not have the courage or you were only looking at one thing, and that was to try to get an advantage for the Greens, whether it was real or imaginary. You wanted some advantage and you were not in a position to take on that fundamental issue of electoral funding reform.

I am not arguing that this is the best technical resolution—far from it—but there is no use having a good technical resolution to the voting system in this country if you do not deal with the electoral funding issue. Look at how the Liberal Party have been manipulating electoral funding in this country for years. You only have to look at The Sydney Morning Herald this morning to see the reports about Manildra and the millions of dollars that have been poured into the coalition from their mates in big business and how that money then gets shifted through various trust funds. It is moved from New South Wales into federal trust funds to try to avoid the electoral laws in New South Wales and then back into New South Wales in dribs and drabs. The other thing we have seen in New South Wales is the brown paper bag in front of the Bentley, where the multimillionaires in Newcastle hand over $10,000 in $100 notes in a brown paper bag to a Liberal MP in New South Wales.

These are some of the issues that should have been dealt with if you had had any vision and if this were not simply about some kind of short-term grab for power, a short-term grab to shore up your position so that no-one else can ever do what you have done, which is actually to get in and build. There will be no other parties or individuals in this country that will ever be able to get in and build. Senator Xenophon has done the same thing. He has locked the door. The Greens are in there. Senator Xenophon is there. I did not know you were there, Senator Xenophon, but I am glad you are—I am sure he is running back to his seat now—you will have to put up with 10 minutes of this. Senator Xenophon and the Greens have seen a great opportunity here to lock the door on anyone else coming in. That issue of electoral funding has just been absolutely ignored when you had an opportunity to deal with it. The Greens have dropped the ball on that issue.

The second issue is what Ross Gittins outlined on 29 February in terms of what this does for lobbyists. It simply concentrates the power in a small group and allows the lobbyists to lobby more effectively. Certainly the Liberal Party are well aware of lobbyists; they have people who are holders of positions in their party and are also lobbyists. We have seen that happen in New South Wales and federally. The power of lobbyists will increase through this. Democracy is not made more transparent or better through this process, because two key issues have not been dealt with: the power and influence of lobbyists and the power and influence of electoral donations on the Liberal Party.

I have said before that, if you ever want to see what the Liberal Party stands for, chase their electoral funding back. You will see that the Liberal Party in New South Wales changed their policy on ethanol because they are getting millions of dollars from the ethanol producers. They will not take on the multinationals, they will not take on companies with $100 million turnovers, regarding a fair share of tax, because they are getting money from them for their electoral funding. Look at where the money comes from and you will see where the policies of the Liberals are.

The problem we have is that the Greens are arguing that there is this great change in democracy. There will be no change in democracy unless we deal with these two fundamental issues: the power and influence of lobbyists, and the power of money on the Liberal Party in particular. We will head down the US path where you buy more and more influence—where you can actually let the gun lobby, because of their power and influence, create a situation in the US where citizens are killed. I am not saying that will happen in Australia with guns; I think we are all a bit smarter than that. But the influence of lobbyists is huge, and none of these issues were dealt with in relation to this bill when there was an opportunity to look at all of the issues that go towards ensuring that you have a decent democracy.

When I heard all the pious talk from Senator Di Natale about democracy, I thought to myself: 'What a mug you have been. You had an opportunity to deal with a couple of the big issues that are a real problem for democracy in this country, and you did nothing.' Why did he do nothing? Because he is just so inexperienced. I think it is a combination of a lack of experience, a lack of understanding about how to negotiate, and not having much ticker. The coalition has really taken the Greens to the cleaners on these negotiations.