Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] With regard to this bill, we're talking about donations under $14,000. One Nation is not going to change whether this bill gets passed or not, because it has been agreed upon by both Liberal and Labor. It will be passed. We're talking about donations under $14,000.

In reference to what Senator Rex Patrick has said, I, unlike the majority of people in the chamber, run my own political party and have done since 1997. The fact is that over the years One Nation has been tagged as a racist party, with policies that mean people possibly don't want to be associated with the party, but they support the party, and this happens in all political parties. When you put in a donation over $14,000 you have to list your name and your address. A lot of people these days support political parties. That's their privacy. If they donate $1,000 or $2,000 they can donate that and it means that they don't have to disclose their name or address. A lot of people may work for organisations, even government departments, where if it is seen that they have donated to a political party they're in fear of losing their jobs. There is a lot of concern from these people. It is a privacy matter. It's like when they go to vote, no-one knows how they vote. But it is disclosed if they donate to a political party. So it is a privacy matter and it does concern a lot of people.

Most of the donations that we get for One Nation are not big donations at all. It's the mums and dads. I thank those people who do support my policies for their donations. They have a right to privacy. If you reduce that amount to under $14,000 these people will not be donating. In some small way it enables us to do the job that we do to give them that representation in parliament by getting people elected to parliament.

Do I agree with big donations from some of these companies, organisations and banks to the major political parties? No, I don't. I don't agree to foreign donations to the Greens, because I then question why international donations would be coming to the Greens in Australia other than to control the way they vote in this country.

So a lot of corruption has happened over the years. I think that the disclosure of over $14,000 is at the right place. That's why I do not support the Greens amendment to reduce the disclosure to $1,000. I do question why the Greens say in their amendment that they have no intention of saying that people should show identification at polling booths. That's all I have to say on the matter. That's my reasoning behind why I don't support disclosure.