Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I totally reject and repudiate Senator Waters's contribution. Anyone who contributes to the Greens, in Senator Waters's self-righteous world, is doing noble work, contributing to a great cause, promoting the cause of humanity. Anyone who donates to the other side of politics, be it the Labor Party, the LNP or the Liberal Party, has a vested interest or is a corporate donor—it's dirty money, a dirty donation. That's just an absolutely absurd characterisation of how the political system works in this country. I'll rise to defend Senator Kitching and Senator Ciccone from the Labor Party. I'm absolutely certain that their judgement, in terms of any legislation that comes before this place, will be guided by their conscience and will be guided by their intellect and reason, which are outstanding in both cases, and that they will make a decision on the basis of what they consider, constructed on the foundation of their strongly held values, to be in the best interests of the country. I can say the same about my very good friend the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister Payne. I've known the minister for a long, long time—I won't say how long—and I know that the minister has always been guided by her values and her desire to assist the public and promote the public interest. My good friend Senator Davey, with whom I've had the pleasure of working since 2019 and who was a fierce advocate for rural communities prior to coming to this place and continues to be a fierce advocate for all those communities, is totally uninfluenced by the issue of donations. I simply do not accept and I totally repudiate the characterisation which Senator Waters seeks to present in relation to the mechanics of how our political system works.

In relation to the specifics of the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Annual Disclosure Equality) Bill 2021, it actually came as a surprise to me, prior to introduction of this bill, that there was this loophole, this gap, this lacuna, in terms of how our electoral disclosure laws apply. This bill will address two very important gaps in terms of that legislation, the first in relation to foreign donations. As I'm making this contribution, I should say that nothing I'm saying here should in any way reflect on my good friend Senator Patrick. I'm absolutely sure, in all of these matters, that he conducts himself with great decency and integrity and I don't question that in any way. I suspect Senator Patrick was not aware of these loopholes either, because he would never seek to exploit such loopholes. As I said, the first of the two loopholes which are addressed in this bill is in relation to foreign donations. It can't be the case that someone outside of this place, before they announce their candidacy as an independent, can accept some sort of financial contribution from foreign stakeholders with respect to a future candidacy that hasn't yet been announced. That simply should not be permitted to happen. That loophole needs to be closed, and there needs to be a level playing field in terms of how all participants in the political system deal with foreign stakeholders. This bill achieves that, with an appropriate look-back period with respect to any financial contributions which were received by candidates.

The second point is with respect to the disclosure period for candidates. Again, it should be a level playing field. We should all be treated equally, whether we come from the National Party, the Liberal Party, the LNP—in my home state of Queensland—the Labor Party or the Greens or whether we are Independents, crossbenchers. We should all be treated equally in terms of disclosure periods. That disclosure period should be calibrated appropriately so that someone is not incentivised to delay the announcement of their candidacy in order to avoid disclosure of donations. So there needs to be a look-back period. I think that's entirely appropriate.

No doubt there are other issues in relation to the funding of our political parties and political candidates that other senators in this place will wish to contribute on, but, on the specifics of this bill, I suspect the vast majority of us agree that these are two gaps in our current system that should be closed. On that basis, I commend the bill to the chamber.