POLITICAL REFORM

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (16:20): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Public confidence in the institution of government is critical to an effective democracy. Last week, South Australia took some significant steps towards increasing the public confidence in those institutions. On 2 September, the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption commenced operating. One of my first acts as Premier was to announce an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, and so I was proud to see its commencement last week. No-one can have any doubt about the qualifications and aptitude for the task of commissioner of our ICAC, former Justice Bruce Lander. I wish him well in undertaking these significant responsibilities.

I also released our model for political funding reform. A potentially corrosive influence on our democracy and our decision making is the influence of money on the practice of politics. We see in the United States how the influence of big money can skew political debate and policy choices. I do not want to see that here in South Australia. People should be confident that money is not influencing our ideas or our decision making. Elections should be won or lost on the strength of the competing ideas, values and performance, not on the size of a party's war chest. The reforms released last week provide for:

a regulatory disclosure scheme requiring political parties to disclose loans and gifts with a value of more than $5,000, including weekly disclosure in the lead up to an election, so that every voter will be able to know every significant donation to every party or candidate before they cast their vote;

public funding to reimburse political parties and candidates for expenditure incurred, provided they agree to an expenditure cap;

expenditure caps for the period commencing eight months out from polling day;

a $500 per head limit on dinners and functions that provide access to a member of parliament or their staff.

The legislation will be introduced this week and I hope that all parties will engage constructively in the debate on the bill.

Last week, we also announced greater moves towards proactive disclosure. We will be releasing data about some commonly requested information, such as ministerial and departmental credit card use, travel and mobile phone use. I anticipate that this information will start to be provided before the end of the month. To further this end of proactively releasing information, we will also introduce legislation this week to address a barrier to proactive disclosure—the potential liability of the Crown arising from the release of information other than through FOI. This legislation will provide for the extension of Crown immunity from civil liability to the release of information in appropriate circumstances.

Mr Speaker, good governments have nothing to hide. Through the commencement of ICAC, political funding reform and proactive disclosure, we are reforming our institutions and practices so that the people of South Australia can have every confidence that our decisions are made for the right reasons.