Page 2461 - Week 06 - Thursday, 10 May 2012
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take on a range of provisions in this legislation. And that is what has eventuated this evening.
But that is not to say that the bill is without significant improvements; there are significant improvements. There are improvements in accountability, there are improvements in reporting and transparency, there are improvements in limitations on campaign expenditure and on the extent to which gifts can be made to candidates and political parties—and to a greater rather than a lesser degree these are significant improvements.
Mrs Dunne has a whole range of conspiracy theories around what has occurred this evening, none of which is based in any fact. If only the Labor Party were in the wonderfully robust financial circumstances that Mrs Dunne would like to suggest—but the fact is that that is not the case. The Labor Party’s capacity to rely on donations from a whole range of organisations is significantly limited under this legislation, and that element should not be dismissed.
The other point I would make is that, because of the nature of the debate this evening and the complexity of amendments, many of which on all sides arrived late in the proceedings, it will be necessary to look closely at the final product to make sure that it does operate as a coherent piece of legislation. If necessary, the Assembly may need to revisit some technical elements of this bill before it actually commences on 1 July. We do have an opportunity in June to do that, should that be necessary, and I flag that that is obviously an issue the government will look at closely prior to the bill’s proposal to commence.
Finally, I would simply make the observation that Mrs Dunne may have grievances with Ms Hunter, but there are those of us who have grievances with Mrs Dunne, for exactly the same reasons. Late declaration of positions on a whole range of matters has also been a sin committed by the Liberal Party, and that has also made it difficult to proceed in an informed manner until quite late this evening. So those are issues that Mrs Dunne should reflect on.
This legislation does amount to a very significant change to the way electoral finances are regulated in the territory. It imposes a whole range of new conditions around transparency, reporting, disclosure, on the amount of donations that can be made to political parties and on the amount of money that political parties can spend in an election campaign. That was the objective that all parties ultimately signed up to and that is the objective that we have taken significant steps towards in this legislation this evening.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (11.12): I would like to start by thanking the PCO and, in particular, David Metcalf, who has done a sterling job over the last so many weeks, even till today, and also Janice Rafferty, who was very helpful in putting together our script tonight. It must have been a real headache. I very much want to acknowledge her role in helping us get through what has been quite a difficult journey tonight.
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