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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 1975 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

Given that the Commonwealth's joint standing committee has made this recommendation, loosening the requirements to $5,000 - a change which has the potential, through money movement across the nine branches of a national political party, to conceal donations of up to $45,000, according to the Federal Electoral Commissioner - will you, first of all, condemn this recommendation by your Federal colleagues - there was a dissenting report from the Labor members, I should point out - and, secondly, guarantee to this Assembly that your Government will not seek to match this appalling proposal, should the Commonwealth adopt it?

MR HUMPHRIES: Can you repeat the question, Mr Moore?

Mr Moore: It would be my pleasure.

MR HUMPHRIES: I will not put the members of this place through that ordeal. Mr Speaker, in fact, I have not read the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. I was not even aware that it had come down. I am very happy, though, now that Mr Moore has drawn my attention to it, to go away and read it with voracious interest.

Mr Moore: From $1,500 to $5,000; it is not hard.

MR HUMPHRIES: Yes, I heard what you said about that, and I was unaware that that recommendation was made to the committee by the Liberal Party federally. Mr Speaker, I think Mr Moore is asking me a hypothetical question. He is asking me whether, if the Federal legislation were to be amended to increase it to that level of $10,000, the ACT would move to match that.

Mr Moore: I am asking you just to rule out matching it.

MR HUMPHRIES: Either way, it is hypothetical. I very much doubt that legislation of that kind would pass through the Federal Parliament in the first place.

Mr Moore: The Liberals have the numbers.

MR HUMPHRIES: I am afraid that they have not, Mr Moore. There are Greens in the Federal Parliament. Yes, I have seen them. There are Greens. We are not the only parliament afflicted with these people; the Federal Parliament has them as well. The Government does not hold the balance of power. It does not hold the majority in the Senate either. So, it is a hypothetical question. Mr Speaker, however, I am happy to put on the record that I do not favour the idea of raising the limit to $10,000 in the ACT. The fact of the matter is that at $10,000 you would exclude from accountability virtually all donations made to all parties and all individuals in the ACT. So, you might as well not have disclosure legislation at all, if you were to adopt such a provision.

Whether that is applicable at the Federal level I could not say. It sounds strange to me; but I would put it no more strongly than that. I am not the Federal Minister. Mr Speaker, I cannot guarantee that we would not want to abandon the principle of remaining in sync with the Federal legislation. We did that last year, was it?

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