Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

It is interesting to note that Senator Smith could not even get through his allocated time because his speaking notes from head office ran out. I want to deal with this urgency motion about the corrupting influence of political donations. This is a pretty typical of the Greens. A lot of public grandstanding, but political incompetence, is what we are seeing here from the Greens. They do a backroom deal with the Liberals and completely disenfranchise millions of Australian voters. They are denying individuals—that is, potential senators—the opportunity to do what Bob Brown did years ago, and that is actually get into parliament. That is what they are doing. They are denying people an opportunity to get into parliament. They have put their own narrow self-interest before democracy.

The Greens in this place are a real political soft touch. They are so naive when it comes to negotiating with this government. On carbon pricing, they gave the Libs what the Libs wanted. On multinational taxation, they gave the Liberal Party what they wanted. On electoral reform, they have given the Libs exactly what they want.

Senator Rhiannon interjecting—

If you were actually serious, Senator Rhiannon, about dealing with a corrupt system, you would have said to the Liberal Party, 'Unless you deal with corruption in the system, we are not going to cave in to your agenda on electoral reform.' You would have actually stood up for what you claim is your principal position, and that is dealing with electoral donations. But you did not. You just caved in in an amateurish, naive way. You have disenfranchised millions of Australians.

What we heard from Senator Smith here was just pathetic. At least Senator Fawcett tried to deal with the issue in an intellectual way and did not just run the spin line and the lines that were put out by head office. If you want to know what is going on with any of their policies, you have to look at the Liberals' political donations. When it comes to the GST, they are from big business. That is where they get their donations. A lower corporations tax and higher executive salaries are being paid for every time an Australian goes to the supermarket. Where was that driven from? It was political donations to the Liberal Party from big business.

There have been political donations from developers and construction companies to drive out the right for workers to be able to collectively bargain effectively in the building and construction industry. On penalty rates, again, it is about big business transferring workers' wages to more profit. That is what you have to look at. You simply have to look at where the donations come from to the Liberal Party to understand what their political agenda is. On climate change, it was the miners driving the Liberal Party's political agenda. On negative gearing, it is the Property Council. We know exactly what is going on. On capital gains tax, it is the Property Council making donations to the Liberal Party. That is where the money is coming from, and that is where the Liberal Party's interests are. If you want to know what they are doing on policy, follow the money. That is how you will know what the Liberal Party are doing.

They run the argument that it is just about these bad unions putting money into the Labor Party. What about the Enterprise Foundation? What about the brown paper bag in the front of the Bentley up in Newcastle where there were party members picking up $10,000 in cash off property developers? Do not tell me there is no corruption coming through in the Liberal Party from property developers. What about the Platinum forum? What about Parakeelia Pty Ltd? What about the Liberal 500 Club?

When we win this next election—and we will—the first thing I will be doing in the Labor caucus is arguing for a royal commission into the corrupt behaviour of the Liberal Party and their donations. That would be the first cab off the rank.