Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens' Leader
In Parliament today, the Liberals again voted for their own political self-interest and on behalf of their corporate donors, refusing to support donations' reform in Tasmania.
In a week where the Premier has failed to be transparent about a $30 000 donation from a Chinese owned company which ASIO warned about in 2015, it is no surprise the Liberals support the status quo, where voters don't know until 12-18 months after such a donation has been made.
The Liberals are content for voters to be kept in the dark and for Tasmania to continue to lag behind the rest of the nation on donations' transparency.
This is a matter of public trust. Political participants in a healthy democracy should be be committed to transparency, openness and accountability.
Voters have a right to know which corporate interests are seeking to buy political influence in Tasmania. The Liberals clearly don't agree.
While we welcome Labor's new found interest in electoral transparency, it's regrettable they refused to support Greens' amendments which would have lowered the disclosure threshold to $1000, ensured disclosure within seven days of receipt and supported a ban on foreign donations as well as money from corporate interests which undermine social and environmental wellbeing.
We also still haven't heard back from Labor Leader, Rebecca White, on whether or not her party will accept money from the Federal Group in the lead up to, during or after the next State election.