Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Today I'd like to talk about one particular area where the Prime Minister could show some real leadership: political donations reform. The coalition finally told the Australian public this week about the $24 million they received in political donations. The Labor Party released information about $18 million. Here's a newsflash for anyone who hasn't noticed. It's now February. The election was in May last year. Money changed hands between donors and parties more than eight months ago, and we're only finding out about it now.

Even though we don't have all the details, we know enough to wonder, 'Have we been sold out?' Have you sold us out? Big business and lobby groups are secretly donating millions to the Liberal and Labor parties and putting pressure on them to change their policies. Crown casino gave to both parties, and both parties voted against investigating Crown's alleged corruption. The gaming lobby gave over a million to both parties, and both parties have the same policy on pokies—surprise, surprise! What exactly do these donors think they're buying with all this money? You're trying to pretend to us that they just throw their money around because they value our democracy that much. Bloody rubbish! Absolute rubbish! Let's get real here! These disclosures are too late and too limited. You can bet that the big donors have already gotten their big bang for their buck. They've cashed in before we knew anything about it, and it's just not right. Things need to change.

I've introduced a bill today to finally fix our dodgy donation laws. I encourage the Prime Minister to take a good hard look at my proposal. My bill would fix our donation laws so that you would have to disclose your donations if you give over $2½ thousand in a six-month period, and disclose it in real time. Income from fundraising dinners and your lobster dinners, where people can pay thousands for soggy chips just to see a minister, will finally be called for what it is—a donation. It's about time this government showed some leadership and told Australians the truth about what's going on behind closed doors. This is the bill, and it will do the job.