Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens’ Leader
Tasmania has the weakest political donations laws in the country and the Greens remain determined to deliver donations' reform to clean up Tasmania's democracy.
For too long, corporate donors wanting to protect their profits have used the money they tip in to the old parties as leverage for policy or legislative outcomes that are not in the best interests of the Tasmanian people.
This has a corrupting effect on democracy, where big corporate players donate to the Liberal and Labor parties fully expecting a quid pro quo of some sort.
The Federal Group has historically donated tens of thousands of dollars to the old parties to keep sweet their profits from pokies, and now it's clear they are bankrolling the Liberals' pro-pokies campaign.
Voters don't know how much one of Australia's richest families is pouring into Liberal coffers and they won't for more than a year.
They don't know, for example, whether Tassal has donated to either the Liberal or Labor parties, both of which support fish farm expansion.
Voters haven't a clue as to whether the Fragrance Group is making donations to improve the chances of its skyscrapers getting up, or whether more money has come in from the Chinese Communist Party linked Yuhu Group to the Liberals.
The Tasmanians Greens will go to this election with a clean conscience on the donations it receives. We have implemented real time donations disclosure and are an open book for voters.
In contrast, corporate donations to the Liberals and Labor parties won't be made public until more than a year after election day, leaving voters in the dark about which vested interest donated how much to which party.
In the new Parliament, we will introduce mandatory real time donations' disclosure laws and a ban on donations from corporate donors and vested interests.*
Having resisted these measures and more transparency in the past, it's time the Liberal and Labor parties got on board in the interests of Tasmania's democracy.
