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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 5171 ..

MR QUINLAN: Was it? Well, whoever. I like the line anyway. I would be very happy to be corrected. As I said, I tried to look it up but I couldn't find it on the net. Right now somehow we are talking about the ill-gotten gains of gambling and that the ill-gotten gains of gambling should not be applied to politics.

The first thing I believe is that of course it is conventional within the community for we politicians to be maligned. We rank along with mothers-in-law in terms of being the butt of jokes. On some radio stations you have only got to say "politician"and you have communicated a message or an appeal to a populist view. But I am happy to stand here and state that politics is the core of democracy and is the core of the community and that the financial support for politics that makes politics operate is in fact a contribution to community. To deny that is to deny, in this place, that you are a part of community. Go ahead; but I believe that I am working at the core of our community and that any support that I get is support, indirectly though it might be, for the process of democracy and community.

There are others of course that would believe that too. We have done a little bit of surfing around just to see where money does come from by way of political donations. Let's start with the Liberal Party federal secretariat. The Liberal Party federal secretariat takes money from the Australian Casino Association, Mr Speaker, from the Australian Hotels Association, from British American Tobacco, from the Fosters Group-beer, cigarettes and gambling-from Phillip Morris, from Southcorp, from TABCorp, from Tattersalls. Tattersalls are directly involved in poker machines. That money flows to the Liberal Party.

On the local front, whom have we got? We don't really want to bag the Democrats totally out of hand-it is not their bill-but let me just say that Democrats at the local level take money from the Eros Foundation. Nationally they also take money from the Australian Casino Association, the Federal Group, Fosters, Lion Nathan, the Australian Hotels Association, the Spirits Council, Lion Nathan again, Southcorp. Southcorp rises again.

The Liberal Party donations come from the Tuggeranong Valley Rugby Union Club, my club; the 250 Club-I don't know whether they have got pokies there; we don't know who they are. I think we really should share these. The Australian Hotels Association donates to the Liberal Party. There are a couple more here somewhere. I will get back to them.

Let me say that, for example, the mover of the bill, Mrs Cross, got about $2,000 from the West Belconnen Rugby Leagues Club in four lots. Mr Speaker, in different times Mrs Cross shared her money with Mrs Dunne. So Mrs Dunne got money from Mrs Cross, who got money from a leagues club. Mrs Dunne herself also got money from the Southern Cross Club, as did Mr Stefaniak.

So let me return to Lady Astor. "We know what you are, we're only going to be debating the price from here on."Let me say that, occasionally, we do have a little hypocrisy in this place.

Mr Stanhope: A little?

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