Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Corporate donations are a stain on our democracy, our politics and our parliament. The Greens believe our democracy should never be for sale, and we need to act to get big money from big corporations out of politics. The Greens are pushing for bans on political donations from for-profit organisations, especially the gambling, tobacco and fossil fuel industries, and this is something we have done for decades now. We are the only party to refuse any corporate donations.

Over the next few weeks, until 4 March, Tasmanians will be bombarded with television and radio ads about the election, ads that are being paid for by the top end of town. This is not just symptomatic of the election in Tasmania. Over the last decade, hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed from big corporations into the bank accounts of political parties in this country and right around the world, and political parties will spend these corporate donations on trying to win elections. The problem in my home state of Tasmania is that we have very poor disclosure laws, and we don't know who is donating to which political party till after an election. Currently, political parties don't have to disclose donation sources until well after an election and only if the sum is more than $13,200. In an intense exchange with reporters on the campaign trail a couple of days ago, Will Hodgman, the Tasmanian Premier, was repeatedly asked to disclose the figure of corporate donations that the Liberal Party in Tasmania are receiving from the gaming industry. The ABC asked:

How can you talk about taking money under the table—

which is what he had just accused the Labor Party of—

when you're not going to tell us how much the gaming lobby's giving you?

Hodgman: We're not the ones going around paying out on gambling interest here—

as though there's no problem at all in taking money from big gaming—

ABC: So it's okay to take money from the gaming industry as long as you don't do anything anti-gaming?

Hodgman: No, it's important that any political party that receives donations discloses them and is prepared to stand by them.

The problem is in Tasmania there's a whiff, a stench. You know something doesn't smell right but you can't work out where it's come from until well after the election and the time has passed. Tasmanians are smelling that whiff, that stench, and it will backfire on the Liberal Party.

The Greens worry that behind any election advertisement there is a large donation from a big business mate. The Greens worry that with every corporate donation there are strings attached. That's why we are pushing for bans on political donations. Tasmania has a history of cosy relationships between political parties and powerful industries. The Greens believe that donation reform will reduce the corrupting influence that these big businesses have on public policy. Andrea Dawkins, the Greens MP for Bass, has been part of an all-women Tasmanian Greens team and is seeking re-election for Bass. She has close community ties and has consistently worked to put the interests of the people of Bass ahead of the interests of the powerful. Andrea Dawkins, a friend of mine, has pushed hard for political donation reform in Tasmania and has led the call to ban political parties taking donations from the pokies barons. Only today we got a report from the Australia Institute that estimates the breakdown of the rivers of gold that are flowing in the pokies industry in Tasmania. The Australia Institute report, authored by Monash University academic Dr Charles Livingstone, said that the Federal Group—the Farrell family—took over 47.8 per cent, or over $52 million, of the poker machine revenue last financial year. That compares to 0.9 per cent to the pubs and clubs—about $970,000—and the state government's $33 million. So Federal Group receives more than double what the state government is receiving in revenue. This stinks. Tasmanians know it. They will throw out the liberal government in three weeks time.