Page 162 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Would the Greens accept donations from developers like the other parties do? No, we do not, and we will not. Would the Greens accept donations from defence contractors or pharmaceutical companies or mining companies like Adani? We do not, and we will not. The Greens accept donations only through our donations reference group, and they must be consistent with our values and principles.
Through this process in the past the Greens have accepted donations from the CFMEU. Will this happen again in the future? That is not for me to say. As always, any donation will go through the party’s process, and the party will make a decision based on the ethics, principles and the guidelines that I have outlined to the Assembly today.
Of course this is not the first time we have had cause to discuss the low standards to which other parties hold themselves when it comes to donations. It was in February one year ago that the Canberra Liberals and ACT Labor joined to remove donation caps from ACT electoral law—yes, removal of donation caps. One would have thought that any MLA who believed in improving our democratic institutions and reducing the risk of corruption would have supported measures that would reduce the potential influence that could be bought through political donations—not these two parties here, not on the day it counted, and certainly not—
Mr Coe interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Coe!
MR RATTENBURY: Mr Wall supported this donations cap, as did Mr Coe, who again is busily interjecting across the chamber. It was one of those 16 to 1 votes that happen in this place that show the Canberra Liberals’ true colours far more clearly than their set piece private members’ business.
I will not be supporting this motion today. It sinks to a familiar low in terms of policy-free politics. As I said in August, the ACT Greens will not be taking ethical advice from any branch of the Liberal Party.
MR COE (Ginninderra) (3.26): I rise only to say a couple of things. Firstly, it is interesting that Mr Rattenbury should say that they are righteous because they supported caps last term. What he failed to say was that he did not support a cap on union donations. Unions were allowed to donate as much as they liked but everybody else had a cap. And that apparently was okay by Mr Rattenbury. That was fine. But now that we have a change to that, he suddenly claims to be righteous. There is obviously a double standard here, because he and the Greens have been beneficiaries of CFMEU money.
Secondly, it is interesting that Mr Rattenbury should talk about their great fundraising code. But what he failed to mention, which I have spoken about in this place before, is their Australian-leading database, which captures information about people all over Canberra and indeed Australia. And the best that I can recall is the bit about the bequest targets and the information they go to about how to identify bequest targets.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video