Developer Donations (Anti-Corruption) Bill.

Parliament House, Sydney

After Lee Rhiannon introduced the bill last year, a debate took place during early February. On March 11, 2004, Lee gave her speech in reply. A vote was then taken and the bill was defeated. To see how the MPs voted, go to the bottom of this speech.

Ms LEE RHIANNON [4.44 p.m.], in reply: I thank the members who took the time to consider my bill and debate it. Some members have indicated they will not support the bill. I will make some brief comments on the concerns they raised. I was pleased to hear the member Don Harwin acknowledge that we must tackle the issue of donations, though I am not sure if this reflects the thinking of his Federal colleagues. Recently, according to the Australian Financial Review, Treasurer Peter Costello held a $10,000-a-head dinner for 10 executives at a banker's house in Hunters Hill. That same week the Millennium Forum held a fundraising lunch for the Liberal Party at the Wentworth Hotel. This is identical to Labor's frequent cash-for-access events at swanky hotels. Mr Harwin's main concern seems to be that the Liberal fundraisers are not as successful as Labor Party ones. I presume that this is what he means when he talks about the lack of a level playing field.

The Greens are not motivated by their inability to match the Labor Party's donations. Our concern is the fundamental injustice of a system that gives big donors more access to the Government than ordinary people. Whatever the Liberals' motivation, we welcome their support for our overall campaign against political donations. I congratulate Mr Harwin on a thoughtful contribution, which looked at a number of different alternatives to our bill, such as the Canadian system. The Greens share his interest in alternative models using public funding but we felt it was too ambitious to propose such a system in this bill. Given Mr Harwin's comments, we hope that he and his Federal colleagues will support parliamentary inquiries into alternative regimes for funding political parties and election campaigns.

Our bill has a more modest aim: to curb one of the worst excesses of the current donations system. The public has a deep-seated hostility towards donations, particularly developer donations. Development issues are also the subject of almost daily decisions by local councils and State governments, and those decisions directly and materially affect developers. The potential for donations to influence development processes and policies is more acute than in almost any other industry or sector. This is why the Greens and the public see the need for this bill. Mr Harwin says we are unfairly singling out one industry, but we say that developers have singled themselves out. Their donations are of a different order of magnitude than those from any other industry.

In the lead-up to the last State election, five of the top 10 donors to the ALP were developers. Likewise, four of the top 10 donors to the Liberal Party were developers. Developers are the only industry, apart from hotels and clubs, that gives more than $1 million a year to political parties. As a whole, developers give twice as much as clubs and hotels. The size of some developer's donations is staggering. Over the past five years the big names like Australand, Leighton, Lend Lease, Meriton, Mirvac, Multiplex, Walker and Westfield have each given hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then there are other more mysterious donors like Cienna from Neutral Bay, Memo Corporation, Shimao Holdings from Hong Kong, and the Toga Group, which runs the Medina serviced apartments. If developers choose to put themselves in the spotlight by pouring millions into the coffers of the parties that determine their profits, they should accept the consequences. Lend Lease has admitted that such donations tarnish their image as a good corporate citizen and has stopped making donations.

Mr Harwin cited the Legislation Review Committee's view that banning developer donations trespasses on personal rights and liberties. The Greens believe that it is developer donations that trespass on our rights and liberties. Democracy-the idea of one vote, one value-is thwarted by these donations. While developers use their donations to gain access and influence, those affected by developments are left on the sidelines. Surely that is a more important trespass, and our bill would remedy that. To those who believe the corporate spin that donations are aimed at supporting democracy, I refer them to an exchange on the ABC's Stateline program between a journalist and the Australian Hotels Association's John Thorpe:

Thorpe: Look, democracy is not cheap. And your firm and your company-everybody's involved with assisting political parties because at this stage we need to keep these people in place to have the democracy we have today.

JOHN THORPE: Look, what helps is this-you attend as an observer, as I did, at the ALP national conference. Yes, it costs money. But we did get interviews with ministers, we did get interviews.

The Hon. Don Harwin went some way to acknowledging this, but said that our bill is not the answer. He said that our bill would only apply in New South Wales. The Greens say: Let our bill be an example for other States to follow. The Hon. Don Harwin also said that our bill could be circumvented. The Greens say: Give more resources to the Australian Electoral Commission to monitor compliance. The Hon. Don Harwin also said that our bill does not address the need for publicly funded elections. The Greens say: Let us have a parliamentary inquiry. Let us get some legislation to bring this in as soon as possible. This bill is just the first step. The Greens want to ban all corporate donations and change the funding system. But we see this as an evolving process. The Hon. Patricia Forsythe suggested that development is crucial to our community. The Greens have never argued against development per se, but we want community-driven development, appropriate development, and sustainable development. The Hon. Patricia Forsythe seems to be suggesting that all development is good.

Ms LEE RHIANNON: I said you seem to be suggesting that. Attitudes such as those of the Hon. Patricia Forsythe nearly lost Sydney its priceless historic precinct, The Rocks. Is she really suggesting that we should not try to keep developers in check? It was only thanks to the Greens' forebears in the green bans movement-I salute the courage and skill of Jack Mundey and his colleagues-that our heritage has been preserved in the face of big developers. The Hon. Patricia Forsythe seems unable to distinguish between growth and good growth-a failing she shares with her Federal colleagues. The Greens want community consultation and community input. Developer donations circumvent the community and drown out the voice of the people in ways that Sylvia Hale, Ian Cohen and I have illustrated in our speeches.

Jon Jenkins based his speech on inaccurate information from the web site crikey.com.au. The record has already been corrected but, for his information, the donations from overseas Greens parties were reimbursements for the cost of attending the Global Greens conference in Australia in April 2001. The Greens NSW do not accept corporate donations. Speaking of Crikey brings me to the contribution and the writings of Hon. Tony Burke, the future member for Watson and soon to be the beneficiary of a $25,000 bonus payment from the New South Wales taxpayer. That will wait for another day.

I do not know whether I can really call his remarks a contribution as they had very little to do with the bill. His opening comments were interesting. Perhaps he has detected an anomaly in the bill. If so, we would welcome any proposal from him to amend the bill. Of course, that will not happen, because the Labor Party likes things just the way they are. We will not get any thoughts on cleaning up politics. We will not get any useful amendments. Labor, including the Hon. Tony Burke, has a vested interest in defeating the bill because it receives the best part of $1 million a year from developers. That is the bottom line. And it puts Labor on the defensive.

Rather than amend the bill or even enter the debate constructively, as the Hon. Don Harwin did, Labor used its only tactic when it comes to the Greens-mud slinging. Boilermaker Burke tried to equate individual donations worth a few thousand dollars from party members with massive corporate donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nice try, boilermaker Bill-sorry, I mean Tony-but the public can tell the difference. Boilermaker Burke tried to suggest that because the Australian Greens took a donation from the Ethical Investment Trust we have a vested interest in developers. What interests would this trust be trying to push? What developments would it be lobbying us on? It is ludicrous to suggest that this bears any resemblance to developers donating hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, or that it bears any resemblance to developers paying tens of thousands of dollars a head to sit down to dinner with the planning Minister. But although boilermaker Burke thinks of himself as an intellectual he has not realised the trap he is in.

The Hon. Rick Colless: Point of order: The honourable member knows that if she wishes to make such statements about another member of this House she should do it by substantive motion. I ask her to withdraw the statement.

The Hon. Peter Breen: To the point of order: If there was a damaging imputation against another member and that other member is in the House, he is quite capable of defending himself. Given that he has not taken any objection to it I suggest that there is no point of order.

The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Amanda Fazio): Order! Ms Lee Rhiannon's reference to another member of this House is not in accordance with the standing orders. She should refer to members by their proper title. If she complies with the standing orders she may continue.

Ms LEE RHIANNON: The Hon. Tony Burke's attempt to smear the Greens about donations reveals that he thinks that donations are bad. And if donations are bad, who is the chief villain? His own party. He cannot have it both ways. If he wants to smear the Greens with muck, he has to look down and realise that he is already covered in the stuff himself. People in glass houses should not throw stones, and people who throw stones should do so under their own name. I am disappointed but not surprised that the Government has chosen not to support the bill. But I am surprised that nobody from the Government benches has chosen to engage the issue intellectually. The Australian Labor Party President, Carmen Lawrence, has raised the issue many times. She is prepared to debate the morality of donations rather than to engage in a knee-jerk reversion to mud slinging. In the Sydney Morning Herald on 4 March Dr Lawrence wrote:

It disturbs me, as it should all citizens, that there are some who are more equal than others.

Commenting on the public perception that large campaign donations may help to open doors, she wrote:

It's almost certain that they do. Corporations do not make large donations out of a charitable impulse or a commitment to civic duty.

We do not know how much is being spent to inform, persuade and cajole our decision makers.

It is time we subjected the process to scrutiny, and judged the decisions of our governments knowing who has been in their ears.

Why is the Government not listening to Carmen Lawrence? Is it too busy reading and writing pieces for Crikey to actually think about the political implications of the donations it receives? It is time to change. The Government may not recognise it but the Greens do. And the public does. Our bill is the first step along the road to a cleaner, fairer political system. I urge honourable members to support it.

Mr Breen (Reform the Legal System) Mr Cohen (Greens) Ms Hale (Greens) Revd Moyes (Christian Democrats) Revd Nile (Christian Democrats) Mr Oldfield (One Nation) Ms Rhiannon (Greens) Tellers, Dr Chesterfield-Evans (Australian Democrats) Dr Wong (Unity)

Mr Burke (ALP) Ms Burnswoods (ALP) Mr Catanzariti (ALP) Mr Clarke (Liberal) Mr Colless (Nationals) Ms Cusack (Liberal) Ms Fazio (ALP) Mrs Forsythe (Liberal) Miss Gardiner (National) Mr Gay (National) Ms Griffin (ALP) Mr Hatzistergos (ALP) Mr Jenkins (Outdoor Recreation) Ms Parker (Liberal) Mrs Pavey (National) Mr Pearce (Liberal) Ms Robertson (ALP) Mr Ryan (Liberal) Ms Tebbutt (ALP) Mr Tsang (ALP)

Tellers, Mr Harwin (Liberal) Mr Primrose (ALP)

After Lee Rhiannon introduced the bill last year, a debate took place during early February. On March 11, 2004, Lee gave her speech in reply. A vote was then taken and the bill was defeated. To see how the MPs voted, go to the bottom of this speech.

Ms LEE RHIANNON [4.44 p.m.], in reply: I thank the members who took the time to consider my bill and debate it. Some members have indicated they will not support the bill. I will make some brief comments on the concerns they raised. I was pleased to hear the member Don Harwin acknowledge that we must tackle the issue of donations, though I am not sure if this reflects the thinking of his Federal colleagues. Recently, according to the Australian Financial Review, Treasurer Peter Costello held a $10,000-a-head dinner for 10 executives at a banker's house in Hunters Hill. That same week the Millennium Forum held a fundraising lunch for the Liberal Party at the Wentworth Hotel. This is identical to Labor's frequent cash-for-access events at swanky hotels. Mr Harwin's main concern seems to be that the Liberal fundraisers are not as successful as Labor Party ones. I presume that this is what he means when he talks about the lack of a level playing field.

The Greens are not motivated by their inability to match the Labor Party's donations. Our concern is the fundamental injustice of a system that gives big donors more access to the Government than ordinary people. Whatever the Liberals' motivation, we welcome their support for our overall campaign against political donations. I congratulate Mr Harwin on a thoughtful contribution, which looked at a number of different alternatives to our bill, such as the Canadian system. The Greens share his interest in alternative models using public funding but we felt it was too ambitious to propose such a system in this bill. Given Mr Harwin's comments, we hope that he and his Federal colleagues will support parliamentary inquiries into alternative regimes for funding political parties and election campaigns.

Our bill has a more modest aim: to curb one of the worst excesses of the current donations system. The public has a deep-seated hostility towards donations, particularly developer donations. Development issues are also the subject of almost daily decisions by local councils and State governments, and those decisions directly and materially affect developers. The potential for donations to influence development processes and policies is more acute than in almost any other industry or sector. This is why the Greens and the public see the need for this bill. Mr Harwin says we are unfairly singling out one industry, but we say that developers have singled themselves out. Their donations are of a different order of magnitude than those from any other industry.

In the lead-up to the last State election, five of the top 10 donors to the ALP were developers. Likewise, four of the top 10 donors to the Liberal Party were developers. Developers are the only industry, apart from hotels and clubs, that gives more than $1 million a year to political parties. As a whole, developers give twice as much as clubs and hotels. The size of some developer's donations is staggering. Over the past five years the big names like Australand, Leighton, Lend Lease, Meriton, Mirvac, Multiplex, Walker and Westfield have each given hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then there are other more mysterious donors like Cienna from Neutral Bay, Memo Corporation, Shimao Holdings from Hong Kong, and the Toga Group, which runs the Medina serviced apartments. If developers choose to put themselves in the spotlight by pouring millions into the coffers of the parties that determine their profits, they should accept the consequences. Lend Lease has admitted that such donations tarnish their image as a good corporate citizen and has stopped making donations.

Mr Harwin cited the Legislation Review Committee's view that banning developer donations trespasses on personal rights and liberties. The Greens believe that it is developer donations that trespass on our rights and liberties. Democracy-the idea of one vote, one value-is thwarted by these donations. While developers use their donations to gain access and influence, those affected by developments are left on the sidelines. Surely that is a more important trespass, and our bill would remedy that. To those who believe the corporate spin that donations are aimed at supporting democracy, I refer them to an exchange on the ABC's Stateline program between a journalist and the Australian Hotels Association's John Thorpe:

Thorpe: Look, democracy is not cheap. And your firm and your company-everybody's involved with assisting political parties because at this stage we need to keep these people in place to have the democracy we have today.

JOHN THORPE: Look, what helps is this-you attend as an observer, as I did, at the ALP national conference. Yes, it costs money. But we did get interviews with ministers, we did get interviews.

The Hon. Don Harwin went some way to acknowledging this, but said that our bill is not the answer. He said that our bill would only apply in New South Wales. The Greens say: Let our bill be an example for other States to follow. The Hon. Don Harwin also said that our bill could be circumvented. The Greens say: Give more resources to the Australian Electoral Commission to monitor compliance. The Hon. Don Harwin also said that our bill does not address the need for publicly funded elections. The Greens say: Let us have a parliamentary inquiry. Let us get some legislation to bring this in as soon as possible. This bill is just the first step. The Greens want to ban all corporate donations and change the funding system. But we see this as an evolving process. The Hon. Patricia Forsythe suggested that development is crucial to our community. The Greens have never argued against development per se, but we want community-driven development, appropriate development, and sustainable development. The Hon. Patricia Forsythe seems to be suggesting that all development is good.

Ms LEE RHIANNON: I said you seem to be suggesting that. Attitudes such as those of the Hon. Patricia Forsythe nearly lost Sydney its priceless historic precinct, The Rocks. Is she really suggesting that we should not try to keep developers in check? It was only thanks to the Greens' forebears in the green bans movement-I salute the courage and skill of Jack Mundey and his colleagues-that our heritage has been preserved in the face of big developers. The Hon. Patricia Forsythe seems unable to distinguish between growth and good growth-a failing she shares with her Federal colleagues. The Greens want community consultation and community input. Developer donations circumvent the community and drown out the voice of the people in ways that Sylvia Hale, Ian Cohen and I have illustrated in our speeches.

Jon Jenkins based his speech on inaccurate information from the web site crikey.com.au. The record has already been corrected but, for his information, the donations from overseas Greens parties were reimbursements for the cost of attending the Global Greens conference in Australia in April 2001. The Greens NSW do not accept corporate donations. Speaking of Crikey brings me to the contribution and the writings of Hon. Tony Burke, the future member for Watson and soon to be the beneficiary of a $25,000 bonus payment from the New South Wales taxpayer. That will wait for another day.

I do not know whether I can really call his remarks a contribution as they had very little to do with the bill. His opening comments were interesting. Perhaps he has detected an anomaly in the bill. If so, we would welcome any proposal from him to amend the bill. Of course, that will not happen, because the Labor Party likes things just the way they are. We will not get any thoughts on cleaning up politics. We will not get any useful amendments. Labor, including the Hon. Tony Burke, has a vested interest in defeating the bill because it receives the best part of $1 million a year from developers. That is the bottom line. And it puts Labor on the defensive.

Rather than amend the bill or even enter the debate constructively, as the Hon. Don Harwin did, Labor used its only tactic when it comes to the Greens-mud slinging. Boilermaker Burke tried to equate individual donations worth a few thousand dollars from party members with massive corporate donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nice try, boilermaker Bill-sorry, I mean Tony-but the public can tell the difference. Boilermaker Burke tried to suggest that because the Australian Greens took a donation from the Ethical Investment Trust we have a vested interest in developers. What interests would this trust be trying to push? What developments would it be lobbying us on? It is ludicrous to suggest that this bears any resemblance to developers donating hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, or that it bears any resemblance to developers paying tens of thousands of dollars a head to sit down to dinner with the planning Minister. But although boilermaker Burke thinks of himself as an intellectual he has not realised the trap he is in.

The Hon. Rick Colless: Point of order: The honourable member knows that if she wishes to make such statements about another member of this House she should do it by substantive motion. I ask her to withdraw the statement.

The Hon. Peter Breen: To the point of order: If there was a damaging imputation against another member and that other member is in the House, he is quite capable of defending himself. Given that he has not taken any objection to it I suggest that there is no point of order.

The DEPUTY-PRESIDENT (The Hon. Amanda Fazio): Order! Ms Lee Rhiannon's reference to another member of this House is not in accordance with the standing orders. She should refer to members by their proper title. If she complies with the standing orders she may continue.

Ms LEE RHIANNON: The Hon. Tony Burke's attempt to smear the Greens about donations reveals that he thinks that donations are bad. And if donations are bad, who is the chief villain? His own party. He cannot have it both ways. If he wants to smear the Greens with muck, he has to look down and realise that he is already covered in the stuff himself. People in glass houses should not throw stones, and people who throw stones should do so under their own name. I am disappointed but not surprised that the Government has chosen not to support the bill. But I am surprised that nobody from the Government benches has chosen to engage the issue intellectually. The Australian Labor Party President, Carmen Lawrence, has raised the issue many times. She is prepared to debate the morality of donations rather than to engage in a knee-jerk reversion to mud slinging. In the Sydney Morning Herald on 4 March Dr Lawrence wrote:

It disturbs me, as it should all citizens, that there are some who are more equal than others.

Commenting on the public perception that large campaign donations may help to open doors, she wrote:

It's almost certain that they do. Corporations do not make large donations out of a charitable impulse or a commitment to civic duty.

We do not know how much is being spent to inform, persuade and cajole our decision makers.

It is time we subjected the process to scrutiny, and judged the decisions of our governments knowing who has been in their ears.

Why is the Government not listening to Carmen Lawrence? Is it too busy reading and writing pieces for Crikey to actually think about the political implications of the donations it receives? It is time to change. The Government may not recognise it but the Greens do. And the public does. Our bill is the first step along the road to a cleaner, fairer political system. I urge honourable members to support it.

Mr Breen (Reform the Legal System) Mr Cohen (Greens) Ms Hale (Greens) Revd Moyes (Christian Democrats) Revd Nile (Christian Democrats) Mr Oldfield (One Nation) Ms Rhiannon (Greens) Tellers, Dr Chesterfield-Evans (Australian Democrats) Dr Wong (Unity)

Mr Burke (ALP) Ms Burnswoods (ALP) Mr Catanzariti (ALP) Mr Clarke (Liberal) Mr Colless (Nationals) Ms Cusack (Liberal) Ms Fazio (ALP) Mrs Forsythe (Liberal) Miss Gardiner (National) Mr Gay (National) Ms Griffin (ALP) Mr Hatzistergos (ALP) Mr Jenkins (Outdoor Recreation) Ms Parker (Liberal) Mrs Pavey (National) Mr Pearce (Liberal) Ms Robertson (ALP) Mr Ryan (Liberal) Ms Tebbutt (ALP) Mr Tsang (ALP)

Tellers, Mr Harwin (Liberal) Mr Primrose (ALP)