The Tasmanian Greens today reiterated their call for state-based political donation reform as a key plank to enhance accountability and to strengthen public trust in Tasmania’s democracy.
Greens Leader Nick McKim MP, who spoke as a panel member at the Integrity Commission’s public forum, said that while the establishment of the Commission was a great step forward in restoring community confidence in their governance structures, complacency must be avoided.
“The Greens are delighted that our long-held policy commitments to establish both an anti-corruption style body and a Parliamentary Standards Commissioner have been delivered, as the Integrity Commission is a real step forward in restoring the community’s confidence in their systems of governance,” Mr McKim said.
“But it would be a real trap for us to think that good public administration and accountability will now happen automatically. We must not become complacent.”
“There is more work to be done to secure the most rigorous and accountable system possible to protect the integrity of our democracy.”
“State-based political donation reform is the next important step, and is an area where Tasmania risks falling behind other states.”
“It is just not acceptable that at each election Tasmanians go to the ballot box without knowing who has donated money to which candidate or political party, and may not know for another 18 months.”
“It is imperative that donations disclosure reform occurs so that voters know in a timely manner who is paying money to whom.”
“it is now time to progress debate on addressing outstanding accountability issues including state political donation reform, post-ministerial probity lobbying restrictions, and caps on election expenditure,” Mr McKim said.
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