TRANSCRIPT
Crossbenchers in Federal Parliament have banded together to put forward a bill to increase transparency in politics and reform the electoral system.
Independent M-P Kate Chaney introduced the bill to Parliament, which has the support of other independents and the Greens.
Ms Chaney says her bill makes 13 important changes, including greater transparency through lowering the real-time disclosure threshold for political donations.
"The 13 changes relate to improving transparency. So the bill proposes real time disclosure of all donations over $1,000. It broadens the donation definition. So it would actually catch up fundraising dinners and cash for access business forms. It cleans up the Transparency Register categories, and it bans lies so voters can make an informed choice about their political candidates."
The Restoring Trust bill would also ban certain companies, like gambling, tobacco and liquor entities and Commonwealth contractors from donating money to political parties.
This comes as the government crackdowns on consulting firms who hold government contracts following the P-w-C tax leak scandal.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters says consulting firms should not be allowed to donate to political parties if they want government contracts.
“It's also really crucial that we stop people seeking government approvals or government contracts from donating. We've just seen KPMG is the latest consultant in the firing line. And of course, they've made very generous donations. Over the years and they've been rewarded extraordinarily generous government contracts. You shouldn't be able to make a political donation when you are seeking a government approval or a government contracts."
The government says it will implement new laws and the remaining recommendations from the independent review of the Tax Practitioners Board, while the Treasury department will review penalty and secrecy laws.
Labor Senator Deborah O'Neill, who has been central to uncovering information about the P-w-C tax leak, says the government has responded appropriately to the scandal.
"What we're seeing right now is a government that is hearing the evidence collected by the Senate, taking stock of what's happening and responding in an effective careful and appropriate way to the challenges that face the Australians with regard to their intersection with these big four companies, their partnerships, their practices are opaque. We need to see a change to the strengthening of regulation and that's exactly what we've seen overnight from our Treasurer."
The Restoring Trust Bill also includes truth in advertising provisions that would prevent misinformation during political campaigns, like the one leading up to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum.
Most recently a Facebook page supporting the No case has used artificially generated ads with speakers that appear Indigenous to make their case.
Lead organiser of the official No campaign Warren Mundine denied being linked to the unofficial group and spreading misinformation.
"We're the no campaign, we're the official no campaign. We're the spokespersons for it, we have not used any AI on any images of any Aboriginal person or any person whatsoever. So I don't know where they come up with that. With that, that the no campaign was actually using it. I like to see some evidence of it."
Independent M-P Zali Steggall says this bill and a previous bill she had introduced could have prevented misinformation about the Voice being spread.
The government's had an opportunity for many months to legislate ahead of the referendum. My stop the lies bill was amended to incorporate provisions for the referendum and was introduced late last year to ensure that we could have had those protections in place. Instead, the government I think, quite arrogantly dismissed that and said, all in my own good time. And as a result, what we have is a referendum that is marred with misleading and deceptive advertising with completely, with lies just published with impunity."
Indigenous Liberal Senator Kerryn Liddle denied that the official No Campaign is spreading misinformation and encouraged people to read the official yes and no pamphlets, although they have not been fact checked.
"I think what I will be doing is continuing to make sure that the information that I have been informed by that is the committee's that I have sat on, that is the information that I've read, is communicated to the people who want to be informed about this. That's what I will continue to do. We will of course, the no campaign will not have anywhere near the amount of money that the corporates have thrown at this proposition. So how we get information out is going to have to be carefully thought through and effective. There's not a lot of money for this. But Australians won't be fooled."
