❓ Opposition questions Labor's acceptance of property developer donations and lack of a ban, citing transparency concerns. Premier defends electoral reform bill, highlighting increased transparency and accountability measures, while deflecting by referencing donations received by the Liberal and National parties.
AnsweredQoN 662Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLITICAL DONATIONS — REFORM —
PROPERTY DEVELOPERS
662. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
There seems to be a bit of a race to
get up first!
The SPEAKER : It is the only
entertainment some people get!
Mr R.S. LOVE : I refer to the
Electoral Amendment Bill 2023, which the Attorney General was quick to speak
about, regarding the significance of voters having total transparency before
making their electoral choices.
(1) Can the Premier confirm the exact amount the Labor
Party or its funding arms have pocketed from property developers over
the past two years?
(2) Given that other states have banned property
developer donations for transparency reasons, and given the heightened
ministerial decision-making powers under this government and concerns from the
Corruption and Crime Commissioner, John McKechnie, regarding advantages
developers may receive from favourable government decisions, why has this
government not acted to address this in the bill?
PROPERTY DEVELOPERS
662. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
There seems to be a bit of a race to
get up first!
The SPEAKER : It is the only
entertainment some people get!
Mr R.S. LOVE : I refer to the
Electoral Amendment Bill 2023, which the Attorney General was quick to speak
about, regarding the significance of voters having total transparency before
making their electoral choices.
(1) Can the Premier confirm the exact amount the Labor
Party or its funding arms have pocketed from property developers over
the past two years?
(2) Given that other states have banned property
developer donations for transparency reasons, and given the heightened
ministerial decision-making powers under this government and concerns from the
Corruption and Crime Commissioner, John McKechnie, regarding advantages
developers may receive from favourable government decisions, why has this
government not acted to address this in the bill?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I thank the member for the question. Our electoral
reform bill will provide three important principles. It will provide
transparency, accountability and integrity—three important principles
that we want to see enshrined in our democratic system to make sure that the
public has complete line of sight of where our political donations come from, the amount of those political donations
and when they are made. This is the key element. This is real-time disclosure.
It will actually improve on what are already nation-leading laws that we put
before the Parliament back in 2020. It is about making sure that in an ordinary
period of time, a political party has to make a declaration of a political
donation within seven days, and during the 30-day period, it has to do it on a 24-hour
basis. This is rolled-gold accountability. No other state has gone to the
extent to provide the transparency, accountability and integrity of its system
that Western Australia has. We are very proud of the fact that we are going to
put political parties on notice that they have to be transparent with the
people of Western Australia so that people can see when those donations are
made and who they are from and be able to
form their own views, as is part of democracy, about that political party. For
instance, members would never see the
Australian Labor Party ever accepting a donation from big tobacco. The people
of Western Australia may be surprised to have seen in very recent history the
Liberal and National Parties accepting donations from big tobacco. Now the
people of Western Australia will have that line of sight, and they can make a
decision on the basis of that. These are very important laws that will improve
our democratic system.
Welcome back, Minister Papalia! It is
good to see you.
As a member of a mainstream political
party, I understand the onus that this is going to put on political parties,
because it is important. It is an important part of being accountable. In
particular, it will make sure that third parties who enter the fray of a political
election campaign but do not have candidates in the field get put under a level
of scrutiny, and we can cap their expenditure. Of course, we have had some
examples of that in the past—one from the Leader of the Opposition's
good friend Clive Palmer, in recent elections. I can understand that there may
be some misgivings from the Leader of the Opposition and his friends in the Liberal Party, because they have
enjoyed the support of Clive Palmer so much over the years . But we will
make sure that these laws reduce the influence of third parties in the contest
of an election by making sure that we cap the expenditure. These are very
sensible laws, and I think if those on the other side took the time to carefully examine these laws and work with the
government to understand them, they would see how important they are.
Another important announcement we
made was about our plans for the development of a parliamentary budget office.
I understand that members on the other side believe that is an important thing,
because it is a good, important step for
democracy. The parliamentary budget office will provide absolute clarity when it comes to costings, and it will provide political parties that are trying to
develop those costings with support in that process. Again, that is another
important initiative as part of the overhaul of our democratic system to make sure that we do the right thing by
the people of Western Australia. It will raise the standard , raise the
level of transparency, raise the level of accountability, and, by virtue of
that, raise the level of integrity. These are very important reforms.
The
member has drawn my attention to the issues specifically around property
developers. Of course, that is an issue that is of popular discussion,
not because of the conduct of property developers in Western Australia, but
because of the conduct of property developers in Sydney and New South Wales
more broadly. Therefore, it gets a life in the national media conversation.
But, of course, a lot of industries benefit from government decisions or engage
with government, be it through contracts or things of that nature. They must
all be accountable, not just property developers. It does not matter what
industry sector they come from, they must all be accountable. That is why we
want to make sure that these laws hold everyone to a standard. That is a very
important thing.
The member asked me about donations
to the Australian Labor Party. I just direct him to direct that question to the
Australian Labor Party.
reform bill will provide three important principles. It will provide
transparency, accountability and integrity—three important principles
that we want to see enshrined in our democratic system to make sure that the
public has complete line of sight of where our political donations come from, the amount of those political donations
and when they are made. This is the key element. This is real-time disclosure.
It will actually improve on what are already nation-leading laws that we put
before the Parliament back in 2020. It is about making sure that in an ordinary
period of time, a political party has to make a declaration of a political
donation within seven days, and during the 30-day period, it has to do it on a 24-hour
basis. This is rolled-gold accountability. No other state has gone to the
extent to provide the transparency, accountability and integrity of its system
that Western Australia has. We are very proud of the fact that we are going to
put political parties on notice that they have to be transparent with the
people of Western Australia so that people can see when those donations are
made and who they are from and be able to
form their own views, as is part of democracy, about that political party. For
instance, members would never see the
Australian Labor Party ever accepting a donation from big tobacco. The people
of Western Australia may be surprised to have seen in very recent history the
Liberal and National Parties accepting donations from big tobacco. Now the
people of Western Australia will have that line of sight, and they can make a
decision on the basis of that. These are very important laws that will improve
our democratic system.
Welcome back, Minister Papalia! It is
good to see you.
As a member of a mainstream political
party, I understand the onus that this is going to put on political parties,
because it is important. It is an important part of being accountable. In
particular, it will make sure that third parties who enter the fray of a political
election campaign but do not have candidates in the field get put under a level
of scrutiny, and we can cap their expenditure. Of course, we have had some
examples of that in the past—one from the Leader of the Opposition's
good friend Clive Palmer, in recent elections. I can understand that there may
be some misgivings from the Leader of the Opposition and his friends in the Liberal Party, because they have
enjoyed the support of Clive Palmer so much over the years . But we will
make sure that these laws reduce the influence of third parties in the contest
of an election by making sure that we cap the expenditure. These are very
sensible laws, and I think if those on the other side took the time to carefully examine these laws and work with the
government to understand them, they would see how important they are.
Another important announcement we
made was about our plans for the development of a parliamentary budget office.
I understand that members on the other side believe that is an important thing,
because it is a good, important step for
democracy. The parliamentary budget office will provide absolute clarity when it comes to costings, and it will provide political parties that are trying to
develop those costings with support in that process. Again, that is another
important initiative as part of the overhaul of our democratic system to make sure that we do the right thing by
the people of Western Australia. It will raise the standard , raise the
level of transparency, raise the level of accountability, and, by virtue of
that, raise the level of integrity. These are very important reforms.
The
member has drawn my attention to the issues specifically around property
developers. Of course, that is an issue that is of popular discussion,
not because of the conduct of property developers in Western Australia, but
because of the conduct of property developers in Sydney and New South Wales
more broadly. Therefore, it gets a life in the national media conversation.
But, of course, a lot of industries benefit from government decisions or engage
with government, be it through contracts or things of that nature. They must
all be accountable, not just property developers. It does not matter what
industry sector they come from, they must all be accountable. That is why we
want to make sure that these laws hold everyone to a standard. That is a very
important thing.
The member asked me about donations
to the Australian Labor Party. I just direct him to direct that question to the
Australian Labor Party.
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