David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

That may be nonsense, Senator McAllister. Let's take gambling as an example. I'm sure senators here would receive a fair bit of correspondence about gambling. There are Australians across the country very worried about the impact gambling is having—gambling advertising, specifically—on children. The statistics show it is having a huge negative impact on young people. We know that. Government agencies have the data, saying there are a large percentage of children now who think gambling is something that adults do, that it is normal. We're seeing children who are 16 and 17 not just gambling but being at risk of problem gambling before they are even legally allowed to gamble. Yet neither of the major parties are willing to implement the gambling advertising reform that most Australians want. Most Australians do not want to put on sport and see gambling advertising when they're watching with their children. Yet when we try and get the new government to take that seriously we get a change in slogans. You cannot tell me that all this money that is flowing into the major political parties from the gaming and gambling industry lobby is not having an effect. If we were listening to everyday Australians we'd be saying: 'This is a huge problem. It is not good for the future of our country. So, we're going to have a response that deals with it.' Experts have said that one of the things that should be done is to ban any gambling advertising in the hours that children watch television, as we've done with other products that are harmful. Yet we get this lukewarm response.

So, Senator McAllister, I simply do not accept your interjection that this has no effect. Clearly it does. We could say the same when it comes to climate politics in Australia. This has become a political football. We've seen the fossil fuel industry use politicians, political parties, to kick this problem down the road, to the point where we are now in a crisis and we're going to have to do things that rise to the level of crisis that we're facing, whereas if we had had a parliament that was connected to everyday Australians, connected to the science, willing to listen, then we could have started to deal with this a long time ago. It would have been a much steadier and simpler transition.

So I would urge the major parties to reconnect with Australians, to reconnect with the people we are all in here to represent. My sense from talking to people in the ACT is that political donation reform is right up there. People realise that our political system is being gamed, that companies have huge influence in this building. They walk the halls, they walk into politicians' offices, they make donations and they run events. We have to deal with this.

I welcome the government's openness to review this and to look into it, and I look forward to having the kind of reform that is being called for by everyday Australians and by experts who have looked at this issue for a long time. This is not a new issue or concern. Both sides of politics have been in government in recent history. Clearly, as with having a National Anti-Corruption Commission, which was on the back of the Greens and Independents pushing for that for a long time, it's politically inconvenient but it's good for Australia. As senators we have a duty to do what is good for the people we represent, not the party whose line we vote along. That's our huge challenge, for all of us.

I commend Senator Waters for continuing to push this issue. It resonates with everyday Australians. The longer we leave this, the more we're going to see Australians starting to find candidates who are willing to stand up and say: 'We can do better. We can return our democracy to the people. We can have rules in place that ensure that it is a level playing field, that big companies can't donate hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars which clearly are having an effect, and it's inconvenient on both sides. In 2021 the biggest donor to the coalition was Pratt Holdings, with more than $1.2 million in donations to the Liberal Party. On the Labor side the biggest support came from its associated entities and several unions, including the SDA, the UWU and the CFMMEU, who donated $3.67 million collectively.

Again, Senator Ciccone, I appreciate your interjection and I really welcome the renewed focus on political donations now we're seeing tens of thousands of Australians making donations to independents and minor parties. For the first time that I can remember we had the former Prime Minister in the campaign talking about it, highlighting the need to tackle political donations. Indeed, we now have a government that is committed to doing that. Let's remember that there is a clear difference between Australians donating their own money in a personal capacity, versus companies or unions donating. I sense there's an appetite to go back to having rules that make it a level playing field and that ensure that everyday Australians have the ability to donate should they want to. We don't want to stop that, but we do want to stop the undue influence that is clearly being seen and is playing out in the way that we are dealing with some of the really big and thorny issues we face, like action on climate, what our response to gambling is. We are the biggest losers in the world when it comes to gambling—$25 billion or so a year.

I commend this bill. On behalf of people in the ACT I represent, I will keep pushing this. This is something that is important to people in the ACT. They want to see meaningful action. They're sick of seeing decisions being made that aren't in the best interests of Australians. They're sick of having governments that argue that the government doesn't have a duty of care to future generations. If we don't have a duty of care to future generations, what are we here for? This is a meaningful way of putting checks and balances and added transparency in place so that Australians can look at this place and say, 'I can be more confident now that decisions are being made that are going to benefit me and my family and my children, and their future and their children's children, rather than some big gambling or fossil fuel company that can spray $100,000 a year to buy a bit of influence in this place. I commend this bill.