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

I do not know if anyone noticed that, after 20-odd hours in this place, Senator Cormann moved so quickly to get to his feet on the issue of corporate donations that you would have thought somebody had stuck a cattle prod under his seat. He was up like a jack-in-the-box, because the Liberals do not want this issue debated in any transparent way. The Liberals are the worst of the worst when it comes to the rip-offs in electoral donations.

I will come back to the Liberals in a minute—just let me deal with the Greens contribution from Senator Di Natale. He indicated that Senator Rhiannon had been doing this for a long time. Senator Rhiannon, you have got an opportunity now—through the chair—to get up and agree with us and deal with this issue now. I just draw the chamber's attention to a notice under order 75 that was given by the Greens—by Senator Rachel Siewert—on 24 February. It says pursuant to standing order 75, 'I give notice that today I propose to move':

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for immediate action on political donations reform, to address the corrupting influence of political donations, including from property developers and fossil fuel companies.

Yours sincerely, Senator Rachel Siewert. This was on 24 February, and on 24 February we did not hear any of the waffle that we had from Senator Di Natale about: 'This is about campaign finance reform. We need to think this through carefully.' On 24 February, they were demanding immediate action. They are all stunts, this mob; they are all stunts and no action. Another stunt from the Greens on this issue—they want to talk about all the issues but, when they get an opportunity to do something about it, they do not do it. They had an opportunity on marriage equality; they squibbed that. They have got an opportunity on campaign financing; they squibbed that. They had an opportunity to kill off a double dissolution and they squibbed that. They are an absolute pathetic mob who really only think about themselves and nothing else.

Here they are talking about how they need an inquiry so we cannot deal with it. But on 24 February, there was a need for immediate action. You cannot trust a word that comes out of Senator Di Natale's mouth. We know they have done a dirty deal with the Liberals and they have crossed the floor so many times with the Liberals in the last 24 hours that I have lost count. They just talk big and do nothing. They really are a do-nothing mob.

I want to get back to the Liberals. As I said earlier, you saw the Libs up on their feet—Senator Cormann up on his feet so quickly. The reason he is up on his feet so quickly is that they have got one of their former key players, one of the insiders in the Liberal Party—the former director of the Victorian and Tasmanian divisions of the Liberal Party, Damien Mantach, pleaded guilty to a $1.5 million fraud against the Victorian division of the party. This was the guy who was sacked by the Tasmanian division of the party, because he stole tens of thousands of dollars through illegitimate charges to his corporate credit card—it all occurred under Senator Abetz's watch. This is the guy who was looking after the money for the Tasmanian and Victorian divisions of the Liberal Party. There is so much money sloshing around in the Liberal Party—donations from banks, donations from finance companies, donations from developers and donations from the big end of town—that they do not even know how much money they have. They did not even know that $1½ million was gone from their own accounts in both Victoria and Tasmania. The money is just pouring in. Look at some of the headlines recently: 'Politics' hidden millions in party favours' and 'Priority access to the Nationals federal government team'. Seventy-five grand gets access to Mr Joyce—what a dream that would be! 'Stuart Robert and political donations' is another one. Mr Stuart Robert, an MP in the lower house, is under investigation by the Australian Federal Police. Going back to 30 June 2015, The Sydney Morning Herald had 'Key Liberal fundraising body took Mafia money for access'. Back on 14 February there was 'Donation disclosure reveals murky deal for Country Liberals'. Another one was 'Illegal donations from developers fund NSW Libs' win'.

This is just about money—in trust funds and in associated entities—in the Liberal Party. If you ever want to know why the Liberal Party are doing something in this place, go on the money trail. Find out where the money is. If they are doing a deal for the banks, you know the banks are giving them money. If they are doing a deal for the finance sector, the finance sector is giving them money. If they do not want to look after ordinary families trying to get into the housing market, because the housing market is distorted to the investors, then look where the money is coming from: the white shoe brigade, the property developers. That is what this mob is about. They are absolutely pathetic when it comes to this issue.

I can go through all the associated entities—well, I cannot go through them all; I can go through some of them—where they are not properly telling where the money is coming from—hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars going into the National Party and Liberal Party coffers so that they can run election campaigns. All they do is take the money. And then what happens? They do favours for the people who make the donations. Who gets the priority access to the government? Who gets priority access to the Liberals? Who gets priority access to the Nationals? It is those who are putting the money into the donations. You cannot find out where the donations have come from, because they are hidden in a web of associated entities. You cannot crack the code. There is so much money that $1½ million can be stolen and they did not even know it was happening. The platinum forum in Victoria received over $1 million, but no donations over $12,000 were declared—all hidden. The former director of the Liberal Party, Brian Loughnane, is the director of Parakeelia Pty Ltd, which received $932,000 but only declared receipts of $43,000 to the ATO. The Liberal club in Western Australia had $830,000 in receipts and only $48,000 in declared donations. I can go on and on and on. It is an absolute rort. If there were ever a need for a royal commission, it is a royal commission into the associated entities of the Liberal Party. We have heard a lot of discussion and debate about democracy. This is what is killing democracy in this country—the donations that are flooding in to the coalition, the donations that are not properly accounted for, and the donations that mean the big end of town is saying, 'You should not do this,' or, 'You cannot look after ordinary people in this country.' Look at where the money is coming from; that is what is driving the policy decisions of the Liberal-National Party. It is an absolutely outrageous disgrace. These are the donations that are coming in. It is mafia money. It is so much money that they do not even know if it is being stolen. They are absolutely outrageous.

I do not know where it ends, but I can tell you that, every time there is a policy defending the rich and powerful in this country, it comes from the other side of this chamber. It is because they are delivering for the people who are putting the money into their coffers. They attack the trade union movement. They attack pensioners. They attack families by trying to bring in a $7 co-payment on health care. They are prepared to attack the working class in this country, the poorest people in this country. If you are a kid out of work, Senator Cormann in his 2014-15 budget said you should get no money, that they should get nothing—no support and no assistance—for six months. What an outrageous proposition—starving young people in this country because of the government's ideology. That is what the extreme right wing of the Liberal Party say should happen.

I do not accept for one minute that we should ignore this. We should not ignore this. These people are taking money from big business. They are taking money from the finance sector. They are taking money from the banking sector. They are taking so much money they do not know where it is, they do not know what to do with it and they are hiding it. If ever a royal commission was needed, it is a royal commission into the Liberal and National parties associated entities.