Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 5176 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

this: 10 members of the Australian Casino Association attended a leaders dinner series and paid ticket price. Similarly, representatives from TabCorp and the Australian Hotels Association have attended Democrat conferences. This is a matter of public record and it is clearly indicated on our electoral returns. In fact, that is where the Treasurer got the information.

I, as a candidate, have not received similar donations. I am not sure what the point is that the Treasurer is making with this type of comment because, if he is trying to suggest that I, with the Australian Democrats, have been bought off by gaming industries, then we are making a pretty bad job of doing what the gaming companies would therefore expect of us. Perhaps he should review all the comments I have made and see whether or not they go hand in hand with the comments of someone who has been bought off by gambling industries.

This compromises the debate that we are having today, and it does not go to the issue of problem gambling, nor why that issue has yet to be adequately addressed. I can understand why the Treasurer did it, and I have no problem with this information being made public. The Democrats have quite a strong policy on this but, if the government is trying to insinuate that we are being bought off, then I see no evidence of that whatsoever in what is going on.

I would like to put forward, for members' information, the fundraising protocol of the Australian Democrats, which is publicly available on our website. It says:

The Australian Democrats will only accept a donation on the basis that we do so without any consideration or bias or favour to their concerns other than where their concerns accord with our own party objectives ...

The Australian Democrats do not consider that accepting a donation carries with it any endorsement of the entity's own activities or agenda.

The Australian Democrats will continue to speak out for its principles including criticising any organisation or entity which it believes fails to uphold the principles of social justice, environmental responsibility, human rights and economic sustainability.

This is something that, I am sure, all members have heard me do quite often. I continue:

The Australian Democrats will not knowingly accept a donation from any company whose primary source of income is derived from woodchipping, uranium mining or tobacco.

A donation to the Australian Democrats does not give the donor any special rights or benefits, nor does it result in any implied or express obligation by the party to the donor.

That is something the Democrats follow to the letter and of which we are quite proud. We have been working hard at a federal level to clear up what happens with political donations. As opposed to the retrograde steps that the government has proposed here in the ACT, we have been pushing for greater disclosure at a federal level.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .