Act now on donation law

Tasmania’s electoral donation laws are next to useless. They are so flawed that political parties can and do use the gaping loopholes to hide who is donating what.

A survey has shown strong support for the reform of political donation laws.

TASMANIA’S electoral donation laws are next to useless. They are so flawed that political parties can and do use the gaping loopholes to hide who is donating what and if voters do find out, it’s up to year after the donations have been received.

A survey of more than 1300 of our readers has sent a message to the Government in the clearest possible terms. Almost 94 per cent in our Future Tassie survey said they wanted greater transparency around political donations.

HEAT ON POLITICAL DONATION REVAMP

At the moment the state’s laws mimic the Commonwealth where only donations of more than $13,800 have to be declared and parties do not have to declare donations made in a financial year until the following February.

This means that any donations made during last year’s State election campaign will not be known until next month. If a large benefactor has made multiple donations of say $10,000 to a party, Tasmanians won’t know about them.

The Labor Party and Greens have consistently cried foul about donations from the powerful poker machine lobby which they say played a key role in the election result. Pubs all around the state carried large billboards condemning Labor’s poker machine policy.

However, polls held during the campaign revealed that poker machines did not rate as a key issue for most voters outside the electorate of Denison, the Hobart-based seat which has since been renamed Clark.

Because of the nature of our electoral donation laws, we may never find out.

In November the State Government announced a review of the State Electoral Act and invited Tasmanians to have their say on an interim report examining issue.

We urge readers to take the opportunity to have their say by logging into www.justice.tas.gov.au and search for the Electoral Act Review.

There is no longer any excuse for Tasmanian politicians to hide behind the Commonwealth system. Other states and individual politicians have led the way with timely declarations of donations for amounts as little as $1000.

Queensland, South Australia and the ACT require parties to declare donations within one week, and NSW and Victoria ask parties to provide their receipts within 21 days.

For all by South Australia, the threshold for declarations is $1000.

Reform is long overdue and greater transparency is a cornerstone to strong democracy.

CITY’S FIRE DANGER

THE sight of a huge cloud of smoke rising in a sinister plume over the city yesterday sent chills down the spine of many Hobartians — especially among those who lived through the 1967 bushfire disaster.

RELIEF AS COOL CHANGE ARRIVES BUT FIRE RISK REMAINS

The smoke was from a bushfire burning out of control in wilderness about 90km to the northwest but it was a timely reminder of the danger fires present in Tasmania when temperatures and winds soar.