Page 653 - Week 02 - Thursday, 19 February 2015
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Clause 22, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 23.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (5.35): I will be opposing this clause. The intent of public funding of election campaigns is to ensure that parties are able to run an effective election campaign without relying on large private donations. The Greens have long held the position of supporting an increase in public funding to reduce the risk of corruption and undue influence in politics and we support public funding at a level that allows parties to run an effective campaign.
We may have been able to support this proposal for public funding but for the context in which it is occurring, and that is the context of removing the cap on donations, which we have spoken about today. I have made my point on this. I think there is little benefit in increasing public funding when there is still significant opportunity for corporations or wealthy individuals to make significant donations, so I cannot support this clause today.
Clause 23 agreed to.
Clause 24 agreed to.
Proposed new clause 24A.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (5.36): I move amendment No 13 circulated in my name, which inserts a new clause 24A [see schedule 1 at page 666].
Administrative funding is currently paid to parties and non-party MLAs to cover the costs of administering the reporting requirements for political expenditure. What this amendment seeks to do is to put a cap on that. At the moment there is an amount of $20,000 per MLA. That has been indexed, so it is slightly above $20,000 now.
With an increase in the size of the Assembly, there is obviously going to be an increasing number of MLAs. It seems likely that the bulk of those new seats will go to the Labor and Liberal parties. So at the moment in our current 17-member Assembly the total amount spent is around $340,000, but in the 25-member Assembly this amount will climb to $500,000, plus the indexation.
The reason I am proposing a cap on administrative funding is because there is only so much administration you need to meet the electoral requirements. Basically, the idea when this funding was put in place was to enable the parties to have a dedicated bookkeeper—
Members interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Members, can we have a little bit of hush, please? Mr Rattenbury.
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