Greens Senate candidate for the ACT Kerrie Tucker has called on political
parties to be up front about donations to their election campaigns,
following the public release of the ACT Greens list of donors, and
subsequent comment by Liberal Senator Gary Humphries.
“The Australian Greens policy is to declare all donors who have made total
donations of $1500 or more during the previous twelve months. The ACT Greens
list of donors can now be found on our website” Ms Tucker said.
“The bulk of the donations we receive are from individual members and
supporters of the Greens, and through community based activities.”
“Our largest donation to date has been from an organising fund of the ACT
Branch of the CFMEU (Construction and General Division). Senator Humphries
has attacked me on the basis that Greens and the CFMEU have a very different
approach to forest industries.”
“Unfortunately Senator Humphries doesn’t appear to understand that this
donation came from the Construction Division of the CFMEU – which does not
deal with forestry or mining.”
“The Union plays a very important role in the Canberra community, not only
for its advocacy for workplace safety but through its training of thousands
of young Canberrans over the years and financial support for community
groups. I am pleased to acknowledge its support for my campaign.”
“The Greens are setting the standard for disclosure of political
donations before the election in the ACT, and we look forward to Senator
Humphries, and the Labor Party, following our lead.”
“The Australian Greens support public rather than private funding of
elections, and have consistently campaigned to clean up political donation
disclosure laws.”
“We opposed the Coalition’s recent changes to electoral law which made it
harder to vote, but – by raising the disclosure threshold from $1,500 to
$10,000 – made it easier to donate tens of thousands of dollars to political
parties, anonymously.”
“We believe the public has the right to know, during the election period,
who is giving money to political parties. Yet most large political donations
are only disclosed after the election, if at all.”
“The Greens are quite prepared to be upfront about the source of our
electoral funds. If other parties do not similarly offer full information
about their donors before the election, ACT voters are entitled to ask what
they have to hide” Ms Tucker said.
media contact Roland Manderson 041 2241379
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