Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this amendment, nor will we support the other amendment that relates to this particular proposition. It's quite strange, in our view, that the Greens propose that the onus of making real-time disclosure should only be on the donor and not on the political parties that benefit and can most efficiently undertake reporting. This amendment is also contrary to a fundamental principle in the bill in that it would create inconsistency between the transparency of donations to parties and that of donations to political campaigners. I leave it to observers and analysts to speculate as to why that would be. The government's view is that organisations which spend over half a million dollars a year on federal election expenditure, including GetUp!, which indeed spent $10 million in the lead-up to the last federal election—let me say that again: $10 million—should be treated on the same basis as political parties and other relevant actors, and the Greens have not made out a convincing case for why such organisations should get special treatment.