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

Tasmania is having a state election. It's the Liberal Party putting their jobs on the line this time. They're going to the election 18 months early—which, by the way, they did last time. Their campaign slogan was Vote For Stability—what a joke! Not least because they themselves got into minority government last year because two of their own were so disgusted by the lack of transparency that they left the Liberal Party. They've lost minister after minister, but they are quite comfortable telling Australians they're the only ones who can be trusted. The last two Liberal premiers promised they would serve a full term, and then both of them resigned mid-term.

In Australia, we call freedom of information requests FOIs; in Tassie, we call them RTIs, right to information. Like the FOI system, Tasmania's RTI system is completely shattered. It is beyond broken. Tasmanians are more likely to have their right to information applications refused than any other Australian in this country. How's that for transparency? Both of the major parties love suggesting that voting for micros and Independents means instability. What they really mean is that they do not want transparency in Tasmania. They don't want anyone else to see the books, because quite frankly they're cooked. They don't want Tasmanians to know exactly how their tax dollars are being spent.

By the way, the Labor Party is just as bad down in Tasmania. You wait for the next federal election. The Labor Party and the Liberal Party in this house will be all over the media gobbing off about how they're the only ones who know how to govern. They're just scared about sharing power. That's why they've done a deal on donation reform which is just disgraceful. They want to control how microparties and Independents get funding, while keeping their entities, their shelf companies, their election money laundering businesses, going on and on while micros and Independents pay the price. I reckon Tasmanians are sick of this rubbish, and I think they know, as I do, what the majors are up to in Australia. I tell you what, it's not working too well for you. Wake up, Australians and Tasmanians. You want some transparency? Let's get it going.