Page 161 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2016
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their members’ interests because the Greens have excellent industrial relations policies. Greens policies are focused on supporting workers, on fair industrial relations agreements and on safety, and we will continue to push for progress in these areas in parliaments across Australia. Of course, based on their policies, the Liberal Party will not be expecting any donations from unions any time soon. Time after time they vote against initiatives brought to this Assembly to improve the situation of workers, and now they want to resurrect the ABCC as well.
On the issue of donations, I emphasise again that the Greens, including the ACT Greens branch, have an extremely sound and ethical donations policy. I think it is incontestable that our approach to donations, campaign funding and the integrity of the political system is most in line with public sentiment.
The ACT Greens believe that political campaigns should be funded through limited public funding. We believe that political campaigns should not be reliant on third-party donations, and we believe this because publicly funded elections promote more equitable access to democratic participation and reduce the risk of corruption through donations.
In the current situation, where donations including “gifts in kind” as defined by the Australian Electoral Commission are used by parties throughout the political cycle, the Australian Greens, using transparent practices, will accept donations, subject to ethical review. This ethical review is performed by the ACT Greens donations reference group. This group applies the Greens donations policy to any donation referred to it, including any donations totalling over $1,000 within a 12-month period.
Mr Doszpot interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, Mr Doszpot!
MR RATTENBURY: The Greens donations policy is available on our website, but I will mention key points here for the benefit of members like Mr Doszpot so that he does not need to keep interjecting.
The policy seeks to ensure that the values and aspirations of all donors are consistent with those encapsulated in the policies and charter of the ACT Greens. The party is able to accept donations only in support of the existing aims of the party and, to be clear about this, we do not change our policies as the result of any donation. Our policies are developed and ratified by the membership of our party. Every member of our party has the opportunity to participate in the development of policies, and they are ratified by the membership of our party.
The policy makes clear that the acceptance of a donation does not imply endorsement of the activities, undertakings or processes of the donor. The ACT Greens maintain transparency in donor identity by making public at the end of each month all donors and the cumulative total of their donations to the ACT Greens over the previous 12-month period where those cumulative totals amount to $1,000 or more. This is above and beyond the requirements of the ACT Electoral Commission, and it is above and beyond the standards that either the ALP or the Liberal Party hold themselves to.
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