Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Leader
The Integrity Commission report and recommendations on Grant Commitments in election campaigns are welcome. It’s good to see the State’s watchdog muscling up a bit on governance and transparency.
On top of the Federal sports rorts scandal, the 200+ mini grants awarded to sports clubs in the 2018 state election was a wakeup call. These grants were electoral bribery, promised and handed out without reference to merit, value for money or transparency of process.
There’s a pressing need for a clean-up.
The case study of the Liberals’ pork-barrelled 2018 election was so overt the Integrity Commission had to speak up. Now it’s over to whoever the new Premier will be to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
We expect whoever is Tasmania’s Premier after Friday will make this a priority, along with electoral donations reform.
The opacity, pork barrelling and potential for corruption in Tasmanian elections must end. The new Premier must commit to tabling legislation to strengthen Tasmania’s democracy as soon as possible.