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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-10-15 Daily Xml
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Political Donation Reform

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:33): My question is to the Special Minister of State. Does the minister stand by his statement on 13 June 2024? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr TEAGUE: On 13 June 2024, the minister said, 'No political donor should be able to buy a favourable political outcome in our state by donating to parties or candidates.' It has been reported today that 'the entire state cabinet will attend a $500 a head cabinet exchange forum' hosted by a group that has donated millions to the state branch of the Labor Party, including four closed-room policy briefings.

The Hon. D.R. CREGAN (Kavel—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Special Minister of State) (14:34): I do, and I add this: until a reform is introduced into this parliament, which this government has committed to, which will limit the amount of influence that people can disproportionately have over politics, then both major parties will engage in the type of arms race which we have seen in this state for many decades.

Of course, in the room that the shadow attorney-general refers to will have been many donors over time, I imagine, to the Liberal Party, but what has occurred in recent times is that they see less favour in contributing to one particular party as against the other. But this illustrates the difficulty in our democracy. It is a problem that has become endemic in Western democracies all around the globe, and it is the fear that people have in the quietness of their hearts that, as individual electors, their voice may not be as strong as others.

Fortunately, in South Australia we have a regime where political expenditure is capped. We have been leaders in developing that legislation. I observe that the commonwealth government, the present government of the day, is contemplating making changes that would bring it into line with some of the changes that we made in a reasonably bipartisan fashion on an earlier occasion. But it is necessary in our democracy, as it is in others, to encourage donations to political parties because there is not a series of regulations that require a, in my view, fairer, better, clearer and, may I say, more refined system that will allow for the type of democracy that I myself believe in.

So I am looking forward to the legislation that this government is drafting coming before this chamber. I look forward to the contribution that you may make and others may make in terms of the formulation of that scheme. But it has been a commitment of the Premier, and it has been a commitment of this government, to bring forward legislation that would make it unnecessary to engage in, as I say, the type of political arms race that we have seen in Western democracies for a long, long time.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The Hon. D.R. CREGAN: If you repeat that, member for Chaffey, I will deal with that remark, but in the meantime I will continue my contribution. The difficulty we also see, of course, in other jurisdictions is a breakdown in what I would say is the political compact. An element of trust is necessary between the electorate and political representatives, and the amount of rancour and discord and the lack of trust that is evident in jurisdictions that we observe going through their own political processes puts us in mind of the type of reforms that might be necessary in our own community.

As the shadow minister knows, South Australia has been an absolute outright leader without qualification in a whole range of democratic reforms over the years. One of those reforms, of course, is commemorated behind the shadow minister, where the other right-wing members of his party exist, and some of those reforms are otherwise recorded in the parliamentary library and in other forums. But as I say, this is well known to members. What I hope to bring forward to this parliament, and what the government hopes to bring forward, is a set of nation-leading reforms. Until that time, every political party will continue to raise money.

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen. We will see if it is a supplementary.

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