Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will of course be joining with my colleagues in the Australian Greens to oppose this terrible, draconian, antiworker and antiunion legislation. But I have been listening, like Senator Macdonald, very carefully to this debate and I have been reflecting on the contribution that Senator Macdonald just made—though I guess it was more of an unstructured rant than a contribution. I have been wondering why Senator Macdonald and his colleagues in the Liberal Party are in fact so supportive of this terrible, draconian legislation. I know Senator Macdonald's history. I know he has been a member of the Liberal Party for a long period of time, and that is fine; it is a free country. But, as I was wondering why they are so supportive of this terrible legislation, it came to me in a blinding flash: political donations from the property development industry, because over the last five years the Liberal and National parties combined have received, at the very least, $10.3 million in direct donations from the property industry. And who stands to gain most from this legislation? It is the property industry.

Minister, the question for you is identical in spirit to the one you responded to Senator Macdonald on when he asked you about donations the Greens had received. I ask you: can you place on the record, Minister, how many millions of dollars the Liberal Party has received in donations from the property development sector in this country over the past five years? If you cannot place that on the record today, could you please come back into the chamber and provide us with that advice in the future, as I believe you committed to doing for Senator Macdonald.

I am not going to stand here and listen to the rubbish and the drivel coming out of Senator Macdonald's mouth without pointing out the rampant hypocrisy behind his words. He might want to get up and cast aspersions at my colleague and friend Senator Rhiannon in this place, and he is entitled to do that, but he is going to cop it back every time. We are going to expose his hypocrisy. We are going to expose the links between political donations to the Liberal Party and the National Party from the property development sector, who stand to profit massively from these pieces of legislation.

Do not even get me started on the donations that the Liberal and National parties receive from the fossil fuel industry in this country. In order to receive those donations, they of course deliver massive public policy outcomes for the fossil fuel sector in this country, including about $24 billion—that is billion with a 'b'—of direct taxpayer subsidies to the fossil fuel sector in Australia in every budget. While on the one hand this week they are trying to claw back some money from backpackers who contribute to the agricultural sector in this country, on the other hand they funnel out the door these massive donations, many billions of dollars a year, to the fossil fuel sector in return for the significant donations they receive from the fossil fuel sector. Of course, it is the same with property developers. Those opposite claw in money in political donations—$10.3 million to the Liberal and National parties combined over the past five years—and they deliver outcomes. Make no mistake; that is what Senator Cash is sitting in here doing today, flanked by Senator Cormann and Senator Fifield, with Senator Paterson up in the back row. They are delivering for their major donors and their mates in the property development sector.

I will say to Senator Macdonald—even though he is not in the chamber at the moment he can always read the Hansardthat if he is going to get up and have unstructured rants at the Greens then he can expect to be called out for being a hypocrite. He can expect to have his party's very close links with the property development industry, including the millions of dollars in donations it receives every year, called out and exposed.

Minister, the question to you is: exactly how many millions of dollars has the Liberal Party received from property developers? Could you take that back through five years and provide a breakdown on an annual basis please.