Corporate Donations

At a Greens fundraiser on Saturday night each local candidate was asked to respond to a specific election issue.

My question was

"The Newcastle Greens don't accept any campaign donations from businesses or developers etc whereas both the other major parties do. How have you addressed this as an election issue and how important is it to you personally?"

My response - which has become a theme for my campaign - is as follows:

Corporate donations, and the real or perceived influence which accompany such donations, is one of the major issues I have been campaigning on in Charlestown. For me this issue fits into the broader election theme of integrity in government – something I am quite passionate about – and something that our current government demonstrates time and again is currently lacking in NSW.

Since 2003 property developers have donated over $7.7 million to the ALP and the coalition in NSW.

In the words of Terence Cole QC:
“People in business are not normally accustomed to making substantial donations to anyone unless they perceive there is some advantage in it”

The Rose Corp development at Catherine Hill Bay will more than likely go ahead with the approval of the planning minister, ignoring the protests of the local community, Wyong and Lake Macquarie councils - and a decision of the Land and Environment Court.

Many other developments have been or will be “called in” by the planning minister, giving the public more reason to question the state governments’ priorities – is it communities or developers that come first?

The Greens have the solution to this problem of percieved (or real) influence. In 2003 Lee Rhiannon introduced a private members bill to ban developer donations to political parties. The Labor, Liberal and National parties all voted against the Bill. The Greens do not accept donations from developers. In fact all donations over $200 are now continuously disclosed on our website.

Last week at a candidates forum in Dudley I took the opportunity to challenge my fellow candidates to adopt a similar policy of continuous disclosure - from now until the election. I don’t believe they took my challenge seriously. But this is a serious issue!

How can local communities feel that their interests come first when

Ø developers donate millions of dollars to the government, the opposition, and as I now know, at least one of the independent candidates
Ø secret clauses in public private partnerships put corporate profit ahead of the best interests of the community (cross city tunnel, Mater hospital)
Ø public assets are sold off and privatised (Dudley, Singleton)
Ø there is a revolving door between the corporate sector and senior politicans (Bob Carr and Macquarie Bank)

As the greens candidate for Charlestown I will continue to highlight the Greens commitment to integrity in government.

I am also working hard to increase our Green presence in parliament - giving us a loud, clear and ethical voice in state parliament – a voice that will not be compromised by the influence of developer donations