Queensland election: Principles not thrown out window, says Yvette D’Ath

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath insists she hasn’t ‘thrown any principles out the window’ despite Labor selling a meeting with her to gambling giant Tabcorp.

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath. Picture: Liam Kidston

Queensland’s Attorney-General, Yvette D’Ath, insists she hasn’t “thrown any principles out the window” despite Labor selling a meeting with her to gambling giant Tabcorp, even after she legislated to make cash-for-access fundraisers illegal.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Ms D’Ath on Thursday said their Labor government had the “strongest electoral reforms in the nation” but they could not rule out holding more fundraisers until they were formally banned in 2022.

The Australian revealed Tabcorp paid Labor $11,000 on August 4, three days before the party’s Business Partnerships Program event where it met with Ms D’Ath, the state’s gambling regulator.

Only five of Ms Palaszczuk’s ministers declared interactions with donors at the pre-election fundraiser, after the Premier’s ­office told them they need only disclose “formal” meetings about their portfolios, a relaxation of expectations from previous years.

Ms D’Ath said she had not done anything wrong because the legislated donation caps do not become law until 2022, despite new expenditure caps applying at the October 31 election.

“I haven’t thrown any principles out the window, I’m very proud of the legislation that I drafted and we brought in as a Labor government,” she said.

The legislation includes donation caps limiting political parties to accepting a maximum of $4000 from a single donor over a four-year term.

Labor’s Business Partnerships Program sold access to ministers for $5500 and $11,000 to donors including resources companies, lobbyists, and industry groups.

Ms D’Ath said the ban on cash-for-access fundraisers was necessary because of perception concerns. “There’s been so many reports from integrity bodies, from academics, from the broader community, at all different levels of government that talks about the perception and potential influence of big money on candidates and politicians.”

Asked why she would still participate in the fundraiser given the serious perception issues, Ms D’Ath said: “I have fully disclosed, I’ve not breached any laws, there’s no allegations whatsoever about any undue influence in what I’ve done at this event.”

In 2022, the government will introduce more public election funding to remove the need for parties relying on private ­donations.

As she hit the hustings in the central Queensland electorate of Rockhampton on day nine of the campaign, Ms Palaszczuk said every party would hold such events before new laws begin.

Asked why her ministers would not stop holding the fund­raisers now, she said “because the laws come in in 2022”.

“We have brought in the strongest electoral reforms in the nation, that has been widely celebrated,” she said.

“That comes into play in two years’ time, as does the public funding at the next election. Until then, parties need to fundraise, but everything must be done in accordance with the law.

“We have to abide by the law and that’s what we’ll be doing.”

Greens candidate for the inner-Brisbane electorate of McConnel Kirsten Lovejoy said the situation was another “blatant example of why corporate donations and cash-for-access gatherings must be fully banned and the implementation of a ban monitored effectively”.

The LNP held a similar cash-for-access event at Brisbane’s RNA showgrounds convention centre on September 18, but LNP leader Deb Frecklington’s diaries for that month won’t be published until election day.