Page 2781 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 June 2011
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date given for submissions by the attorney was incorrect. The amended closing date for all submissions is COB 30 July 2010. I think that it is worth making sure that that corrected information is in the Hansard.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (10.51): On the substance of the bill, it is clear that our electoral system needs reform and we have a committee process underway to consider the issue. I again make the point that the Greens value that process. Our view is that there should be comprehensive changes to the way political parties are funded and it is best to do this comprehensively with the benefit of a full and considered report on the issue and how it applies to the ACT specifically.
As I said earlier, even in the absence of any rumour, there exists the possibility, real and not remote, that someone will seek to frustrate the effect of the inquiry and the reform process, and it is reasonable to take steps to ensure that the integrity of our system is respected and the committee report is not considered in the context of something untoward having occurred during the inquiry period.
This is an interim measure, and the Greens have no intention of entertaining anything other than an interim measure to ensure the integrity of the inquiry process. The matter will not be resolved, but the Assembly’s intention to act in the area will be clear, and hopefully that will mean that we can all sit down and constructively work out the best way forward and overcome some of the technical issues it presents.
The in-principle question to be resolved today is whether or not the Assembly supports an interim cap on donations. This is the question to be resolved and everything else should be put to one side. That is the only reasonable way to resolve the issue.
The Greens support an interim cap of some sort. This does not mean that we are making any judgement on any other issue to do with any particular party or anyone else. It means that we believe that we should be doing something to try and ensure that there is a reasonably level playing field for everyone and that members are elected to this place on the basis of their ideals, values and policies, not the depth of their pockets.
We in the Greens have been unambiguous in our ultimate position that elections should be publicly funded to ensure fairness and transparency. Consistent with that ultimate end, a cap on donations, albeit to a lesser extent, achieves some of that aim.
We will not debate the detail stage today because the exact make-up of that cap is something that still needs to be resolved and there are subsequent issues that arise because of it. Should caps only be applied to corporations or should they apply to natural persons as well? Is $50,000 the most appropriate amount? How do we regulate subsidiary entities and transfers within entities? These are complicated issues and, even though this is only an interim measure, time will be required to come up with the best mechanism to achieve the desired outcome. The Greens hope to work with all parties in the very near future to resolve the details of the issue.
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