Questions remain on Tasmanian state election donations a year after the event

ANALYSIS: IT is not good enough for the Liberals’ administration arm to keep rolling its eyes when people ask for a full explanation of their funding.

14/11/2006 NEWS: Generic images of poker machines.

NOTHING to see here, the state Liberals declared yesterday. Their annual returns were published early yesterday morning on the Australian Electoral Commission’s website — and Liberal Party state director Sam McQuestin boldly argued the contents put to bed any concerns people may have had before, during and/or after the state election they won almost 11 months ago.

Less than $1 million of the more than $4 million the Liberals received was explained by the party. About half of what was traced came from gaming and hospitality interests.

Mr McQuestin claimed the majority of the mystery remainder was from the state’s small businesses and families worried about another Labor-Green government. Maybe, maybe not.

Unfortunately we don’t know, and Mr McQuestin did not answer the Mercury’s request for further information on who was behind the missing millions yesterday. Nor did any government minister hold a media event — the first time all week a Liberal MHA did not front journalists.

MORE: LIBERALS DECLARE $4.1 MILLION IN DONATIONS

Sam McQuestin on election night. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Labor made some noise about electoral donation reform but also declined to reveal the vast majority of their funding sources and did not hold a press conference all day either.

That party’s donations were far less than what the Liberals received — about $1.1 million in total — but it is fair to expect an Opposition demanding change to lead the charge.

Same with Clark (Denison) independent MHR Andrew Wilkie, who sounded stumped when a journalist asked why he didn’t publish his donations online. In fairness, he said he had only received about $3000 in donations last financial year.

The figures declared yesterday were not, in sum, vastly different to those from the 2014 state election. But the game was different. Labor made a bold, unexpected pledge to

confine poker machines to casinos, and faced the wrath of hospitality and gaming interests as a result.

This played out on billboards, on the radio and on television, and third-party campaigns were not counted among the Liberals’ donations. Voters were literally told Labor thought they were stupid and the Opposition clearly did not have the funds to make their case for change.

Michael Best, left, and Steve Old in front of an election billboard at the Brooker Inn last year. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

There are many reasons the Liberals won government last year. But it is not enough for the Liberals’ administration arm to keep rolling its eyes when people ask for a full explanation of their funding, particularly when policies were quietly rolled out that, in part, promised the state’s main hospitality body almost $7 million in taxpayers’ money over four years.

It is worrying that Mr McQuestin saw yesterday’s returns as evidence the existing donation guidelines were working well, particularly when the state so clearly trails every other jurisdiction when it comes to transparency.

The government is meant to be looking at reform. At this stage, it’s not just Labor who allegedly thinks we’re stupid — without genuine change, it is the Liberals who are playing us for mugs.