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

I welcome this MPI from Senator Lambie. It is indeed a matter of public importance. Spending at the recent federal election was a record $439.4 million. Political donation reform is something that Australians want to see happen. I welcome the review that JSCEM is undertaking and the government's commitment to dealing with this. Clearly, we have to deal with this in Australia. Australians want more transparency around political donations and they want to have trust and confidence in our political system, knowing that decisions being made in this place and in the other place are in the best interests of Australians—of all of us—and not about vested interests. When you read through the returns, which we get months and months after the election, they certainly raise some questions as to why there are such large sums of money coming from gambling, alcohol, the banks and fossil fuel companies. Tragically, even tobacco is still a donor to the Nationals.

This needs to stop. We can stop it. It is within the power of the parliament to put in place changes that ensure that there are things like low disclosure thresholds and real-time disclosures. Technology has moved a long way, and it is possible for people, in a reasonable time frame, to see who is donating to elections while they're happening and not after the fact—sometimes six months after the fact.