Page 2818 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 1991
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its policy calling for the abolition of public funding of election campaigns. If that report is correct, that again strikes a warning for the minor parties in their situation with respect to the overwhelming funding situation of the major parties.
So, balanced against the civil liberties aspect is the liberty itself in political pluralism which can be brought about by other parties breaking through the duopolistic situation in this country. Pluralism will always suffer at the hands of vast advertising machines, particularly in the electronic media.
The Labor Party must be unbelievably cynical to take its present steps. It has taken no steps through its reformist years - it is no longer a reformist party - to take any measures to combat its situation. Now it brings this measure in when it is running out of donors and when it is utterly compromised by the WA Inc. disclosures - - -
Mr Jensen: And tired.
MR COLLAERY: And tired, as my colleague Mr Jensen points out. To bring it in now, when there is a real chance in this community of political pluralism, effectively means that even the free advertising that we used to get from the ABC will be denied us - I do not think people realise that - under this ban. Bob Hawke of the Labor Party has acknowledged that the Labor Party is going to turn to a different emphasis. They are going to turn to increasing the amounts that they allocate to print advertising, doorknocking, letterboxing and direct mailing, and they will step up phone canvassing - once again, an area where the minor parties do not have the resources. So, once again, the duopoly finds under that proposal a way of surviving.
I must say that I cannot agree with the arguments advanced by the Liberal Party or the Labor Party on this issue. There just should be a return to ethical decency with respect to the use of the media. The most extraordinary and misleading ads are run and campaigns now descend to the use of the television, particularly, and the other electronic media to cajole and to impart an utterly false image of a person. I am not judging the substance of what happened to Sallyanne Atkinson; I do not know the issues up there. All I know is that she lost out because there was an emphasis on one single issue to do with her expenditure pattern.
That is what television can do. It can overfocus and create a level of ignorance in the community on an issue. It enables the major parties to play those games to the detriment of Australian politics and of the entry into politics of people of merit.
MADAM TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Are there any other speakers? If not, the discussion has concluded.
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