Tasmanians have been deliberately kept in the dark for too long as the major parties rake in big money from their corporate donors, who most certainly aren’t donating out of the goodness of their shareholders’ hearts. There’s an expectation of a quid pro quo, and it’s usually delivered at the expense of Tasmanians or our environment.
Tasmanians went to the polls last March still languishing under the weakest donations laws in the country. The Liberals’ weak disclosure and funding laws that passed last year don’t even come into effect until next year. Despite voting for those reforms, when the Liberal and Labor parties went to the polls in March they still refused to voluntarily disclose their campaign donors. The Greens did.
The Liberal’s donations reforms that passed Parliament last year still leave Tasmania with the weakest laws. Donations under $5,000 will still be hidden from the public, and Tasmanians still won’t have the information they deserve on polling day about who has funded candidates’ campaigns.
Our legislation will ensure donations over $1,000 are disclosed to the public. Politicians and candidates will have to reveal their donors within 7 days during the campaign, and 24 hours in the week before polling day.
These changes bring lutruwita/Tasmania in line with best practise donations’ disclosure laws across the nation.
