While the world was looking at the United States and its impending Presidential Election, attention was not directed at the Australian House of Representatives; which meant that the boring business of passing legislation could be done without terribly much media attention. As I write this late on a Thursday, I have no idea if this has appeared in either the News Corp or the Nine Entertainment newspapers but I am sure that it will not be reported at all on Sky News or the commercial television news' bulletins and might get a passing mention on Radio National or News Radio by the ABC.
Late in the afternoon of Thursday the 29th of October, the House of Representatives passed the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2020 which allows political parties at Federal levels, to accept political donations from entities which have been banned at state level and to be able to pass them through the organisations internally.
Just to reiterate. Political donations which have been banned at state level (mostly because those entities have either been found guilty of participating in political corruption) can now be sent through the Federal branches of those same political parties, where the money can pass from being in a tainted state to one where it has been cleaned. While this isn't directly a money laundering scheme, it certainly allows the political parties to dry clean their donations.
The bill was opposed by only a handful of independents and the Greens; which meant that the ability to pass what would otherwise be banned political donations to state political parties was passed 146:5 (Bob Katter sided with the government).
Australia has famously been free from corruption forever. We definitely haven't had state political leaders involved in intimate affairs which have resulted in business people gaining audiences with State Premiers at all. We haven't had Premiers who gave favours to business people and then mysteriously have forgotten about $3000 bottles of wine that they might happen to have lying about in their office.
Federally we definitely haven't had the Sports Minister sign off on grants for sporting fields and organisations in key marginal seats and loyal seats to the party, just before a Federal election. We haven't had the Federal Government mysteriously acquire land at ten times the market value from a party donator, without any form of government scrutiny. We haven't had a media organisation whose former CEO set up a political party, be given grants to televise women's sport instead of the national broadcaster and then have no extra women's sport be televised at all. We absolutely haven't had $440m given to a reef conservation foundation which just happened to be partnered with a Prime Minister.
Political corruption just never happens in Australia; which is why at state levels, I have no idea why the Independent Commission Against Corruption exists. I have no idea why Premiers, Ministers, Police Chiefs etc. are brought before them either.
The House of Representatives passed legislation which honours that commitment to having no idea about corruption with respect to political donations. If State Governments just happened to have passed legislation which has banned political donations from some entities in an effort to stop corruption, the Federal Government decided very strongly that that state legislation not only deserves to have no Federal equivalent but that it should by operation of law be completely subverted and quashed.
Australia has famously been free from corruption forever. Just because a political party might be banned from accepting donations from someone at state level, there is no reason to assume that those same dollars if passed over exactly the same desk and placed in a Federal branch bank account, won't go some way to achieving what was intended at State level at all. Just because the same political parties operate at State and Federal level is no reason to assume that any political corruption is going on.
Early in the morning of the 29th of October, the independents met in the chamber to put forward discussion on the legislation but because there were only five members on the floor of the chamber, no quorum could be reached and thus no tabled discussion could legally begin under the Standing Orders. When it did resume, there was almost no discussion but at least Andrew Wilkie got a chance to speak up.
Today the Govt & Oppn shamefully voted to allow federal political parties to accept donations from donors banned by state & territory govts. They can use the money, or pass to their state branch which is brazen money laundering #auspol #FederalICACNOW #politas #BringOnDebate pic.twitter.com/vTogC21NjH
— Andrew Wilkie MP (@WilkieMP) October 29, 2020
Earlier this year, Christian Porter admitted that Coalition missed its own deadline on drafting up some framework for a national integrity commission, citing that starting a process during the Christmas period was not an ideal time.
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