Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's been a lot of attention on the budget night fundraiser event for the Labor business forum this week. The gall of a Labor fundraiser being sponsored by PwC, a company that had leaked confidential Labor government documents, rightly raised eyebrows. After pressure from my colleague Senator Barbara Pocock, I was pleased to see PwC withdraw their sponsorship of the event, but we will keep holding the government's feet to the fire over their relationship, this cosy relationship, with that company.

Previous pressure from the Greens and the crossbench has meant that party fundraising events can no longer be held in this building, but the grift certainly continues outside this place. The budget night fundraiser once again highlights gaping loopholes in our donation disclosure rules—rules that allow the big parties to continue to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars without adequate scrutiny, rules that continue to give big donors privileged access to ministers.

The current definition of 'gift' allows a wide range of contributions to avoid being classified as donations. Exorbitant membership fees, like the $82,000 PwC paid to the Labor Business Forum, aren't considered donations. Donors can spend thousands of dollars on a fundraising event with the Treasurer, but it's not a donation if they think they got value for money. I think $330 million in government contracts might seem like pretty good value for money if you're PwC. At $5,000 per seat, the event could have raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Labor business forum on a night when the Treasurer announced that those on JobSeeker would get $2.85 extra a day. We won't know how much Labor coffers grew from the evening until at least February of next year. Business forums are a front to get around donations rules, and it's time to strengthen those rules. If you really want to know what stakeholders want, listen without—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Waters. The time for this discussion has expired.