[Greens-Media] Potential dodgy developer donations highlight urgent need for reform

[Newman, Freya (Sen L. Rhiannon)]

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MEDIA RELEASE
14 July 2016

Potentially dodgy developer donations highlight urgent need for reform

The urgent need for national uniform political donation laws has again been highlighted by potential dodgy developer donations, Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon said.

"Developers in NSW appear to be side-stepping the state ban on developer donations by donating to Liberal branches outside of NSW," Senator Rhiannon said.

"The involvement of Tony Merhi, who has previously appeared before ICAC for bypassing NSW donations laws and donating to a Liberal Party slush fund, has added to suspicions about the motives of the donors.

"We have seen this happen previously - donations are made to different branches of the same political party in order to sidestep laws or avoid disclosure obligations.

"The inconsistencies from state to state, and between state and federal laws, undermine the whole electoral funding process, which is notoriously corruptible.

"Without strong, national donations laws, donors in NSW will continue to find their ways around state laws and the corrupting influence of donations will continue to play out in other jurisdictions. .

"When we return to parliament the Greens will reintroduce our Donations Reform Bill, which would ban political donations from developers, tobacco, alcohol, gambling and mining industries. We will also reintroduce our Political Donations Enhancing Transparency Bill, which would expose all political donations to greater scrutiny," Senator Rhiannon said.




Media contact: Freya Newman 0411 669 022