Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

There's not much in politics that is predictable, but what you can always bet your last dollar on is that when there's a chance to fix our rotten donation laws the Labor Party will flub it. I've got to say, I always make the same mistake—I'm owning up to it. Every time I hear the Labor Party talk about how they want to 'strengthen', 'fix' or 'tighten up' our donation laws or say, 'Let's bring on a national ICAC in Australia,' I make the mistake of letting myself get sucked into having a bit of hope that they'll stick to their word. I make the mistake of getting my hopes up every time, and every time I get burned, and so do the Australian people. Every time I hope they'll get it right they just send it further backwards, and I'm always so disappointed. Maybe I'm just a slow learner, but I reckon there are a lot of Labor voters who will feel pretty burned about this as well.

Do you, ALP backbenchers over there, even know what your own party are doing? Do you have any idea what they're making you vote for? You tell your voters that you want there to be greater transparency in parliament. Once again, do you know what you're talking about? You say you'll fight corruption and combat the influence of big corporate donors, and then, when the time comes for you to stand up for what you believe in, you blink, you roll over, you scurry off into a corner like cockroaches. It's no wonder no-one listens to you anymore when it comes to transparency and what's best for the country over political donations. We might as well not have an opposition party in this parliament, because you give the government what they want every time. You care more about protecting your donors than you do about your own voters. I hope to God that they wake up to you sooner rather than later.

Everyone who's giving big piles of cash to major parties wants things to stay the way they are. Everyone who is pinning their hopes on major parties that things will get better wants things to change. Every single time the donors win the day. We are stuck in this chamber of acting only with the permission of the donor classes. Nothing about our donation laws can change if it hurts the ones who are donating their way into the hearts and minds of the major parties. And because the ones who win out of our crumby donation laws are the donors, not the voters, voters don't win out of this. If the voters were going to win, you'd actually have to go out there and earn your seats instead of paying for them. The voters just keep getting told to suck it up and shut it down.

Why is it up to the crossbench to stick up for something that's so popular that 80 per cent of voters want it? Eighty per cent of voters out there want electoral change in the right way. You guys are always accused of being too focused on doing what's popular instead of doing what's right. I'm here to defend you against that accusation, because we've got evidence that it's wrong and it's right in front of us today. Here we have a chance to do something that 80 per cent of voters support and you're saying: 'No. Too bad. I have to keep my political seat and that's more important than doing what's doing right by the voters and right by the country, showing that there is no influence in both these chambers.' It continues to be shown out there that, if you pay enough money, you get plenty of influence up here in the big, white house in Canberra. There's no doubt about that. There's no argument there.

So full credit to Australians who standing up to the will of the people! Congratulations on fighting against the will of the people who voted you in here in the first place to begin with! There is something admirable about having the strength to fight against your voters and fight for your donors! But I'm sorry to inform you that I don't have your spine! Unlike you, I don't take the big donations from the big spenders. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, they don't offer it, to be honest. Secondly, even if they did offer it, I'd turn them down. I care about my dignity too much to sell myself out and sell out Tasmanians for that. I am sure you and your voters would say it's always worth selling your souls to get you into office. If you can sleep of a night-time then good for you. You're bigger than I am! Maybe you genuinely believe that. After all, you can't do anything if you don't have government. That's what they say at least.

But here again we have evidence today to prove that it's not true, because from the benches of the opposition Labor are about to achieve something really huge. Let nobody say you have no power to make change from opposition, because Labor are about to make a huge change and they don't even need to win government to do it. What's about to happen in front of our very eyes is a pea-and-thimble trick that would make a street magician blush. Labor are about to vote for legislation they say will strengthen our donation laws. They are about to move some amendments that they say will close all the loopholes and maintain all the integrity of our donation system. As soon as they do, the cracks in our federal donation laws will blow open even further. They will say they are strengthening them and they'll get weaker. They'll say they're making things more transparent and they'll get less transparent—not that there's much transparency left at all. They don't even need to be in government to do it. I bet the Liberals and Nationals are sitting back right now and thinking, 'You beauty.' They're laughing their butts off at you people. You just fell for it, hook, line and sinker.

If the Labor Party want to move amendments to the Liberal Party's dodgy donations bill that will make it even dodgier nobody in the Liberals is going to stand in the way. They have walked all over the top of you. It's shameful. Every time the Liberal and Labor Party get together to work on our donations laws, you can guarantee they're covering each other's butts and we're going backwards, not forwards. It's scary stuff. Labor are about to argue that federal donation laws should be more like state laws. Well, jeez, I hope you're not following the state laws of Tasmania, because when it comes to donations laws there are none! Isn't that right, Senator McKim?