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Inquiry Into Electoral and Political Party Funding

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Submission No 83 INQUIRY INTO ELECTORAL AND POLITICAL PARTY FUNDING Organisation: Terrigal Area Residents Association “TARA” Inc Name: Ms Sue Edwards Position: President Telephone: 4385-6020 Date received: 13/02/2008 Terrigal Area Residents Association “TARA” Inc. 2007-08 Officers President: Sue Edwards Vice-President: Ted Sandeman Secretary: Mary Johnsson Treasurer: Ted Edwards P.O. Box 523, Terrigal 2260 Submission by email to: [email protected] 13 February 2008 The Legislative Council Select Committee on Electoral and Political Party Funding TARA welcomes the Legislative Council of NSW’s initiative on 27.06.07 in appointing a select committee to inquire into and report on the funding of, and disclosure of donations to, political parties, and candidates in state and local government elections. It is disappointing, however, that apart from the media release on 15.11.07 and a call for submissions on 19.11.07 little publicity has been given to this matter. The period 19.11.07 - 15.02.07 (closure of submissions) conveniently some might add, coincided with Federal Elections, Christmas and the January holidays. All media attention is currently on the return to Parliament of the new Federal Government and The Sorry Bill. One must ask the Question: Who could fund the advertising to raise awareness of the people of the Inquiry by this Select Committee into Electoral & Political Party Funding? The Liberal Party? The Labour Party? The Unions? The Development Industry? The Association of Hotels, The Gaming/Racing Industry? The Food Industry? The big Corporations? The answer of course is “NO” because all of the above are either major donors or major beneficiaries of electoral and political donations, and it would not be in their interest. All of the above would be keen for the current situation to continue. The system and the Election Funding Act 1981 must therefore be reformed as it currently results in the perception of: • politicians being controlled by donors • donor funding advertising and public relations corrupting the election process by ensuring the election of those who can advertise best • lack of transparency of donations in that donations are only made public months after the elections (2006-07 political donation figures belatedly released on 1.2.08) Stephen Mayne comments in The Sun Herald of 10 February 2008: • Australian Labor is one of the richest political parties in the democratic world • Australia has one of the world’s worst financial disclosure systems for political parties “Based on media reports and some publicly available documents, the ALP and its affiliated unions would appear to have net assets of between $700 million and $1 billion. The militant Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union alone has net assets of more than $100 million.” TARA Electoral & Political Party Funding Submission 2. Attached is a comprehensive document prepared in May 2006 on The Development Industry’s Takeover of Planning and Development Regulation in NSW. Details of donations made to NSW ALP between 1999 and 2005 by companies connected with the development industry are given in the final section of the Report (pages 28 – 60). The final dot point in the conclusion of the summary (page 3) “What needs to be done” states: • ICAC to look into corruption (taking of bribes and donations from developers) at ALL levels of government. An end to political donations from the development industry at all levels of government and restrictions on the amount of money that can be spent on election campaigns. ____________________________ TARA considers that all donations should be registered with the electoral commission as soon as they are made, and that information concerning donations to political parties and individual candidates be made available immediately for public scrutiny. Likewise any donations made to any political party whether in or out of office should be open to full public scrutiny to ensure transparency. The Federal government should be encouraged to adopt similar principles. Recommendation 1. Adopt rules for political contributions similar to those that came into force on 1st January 2007 in Canada. See: //www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=fin&document=index&dir=lim&lang=e&textonly=fa lse Written by: Sue Edwards, President Terrigal Area Residents Association. ii The Development Industry's Takeover of Planning and Development Regulation in NSW May 2006 iii Table of Contents THE DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY'S TAKEOVER OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT REGULATION IN NSW.............................................................................................................................................................................. 1 SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 1 FUTURE DIRECTIONS ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE ............................................................................................................................................... 2 THE DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY’S TAKEOVER OF PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT REGULATION IN NSW 1993 - 2006 (HISTORY AND TIMELINE)......................................................................................................... 4 1993- MARCH 1995......................................................................................................................................................... 4 MARCH 1995 - MARCH 1999........................................................................................................................................... 4 MARCH 1999 – MARCH 2003.......................................................................................................................................... 6 MARCH 2003- JULY 2005................................................................................................................................................ 9 AUGUST 2005 - APRIL 2006 .......................................................................................................................................... 12 SNAPSHOT OF PLANNING CHANGES ADVOCATED BY THE PROPERTY INDUSTRY AND ADOPTED BY THE NSW GOVERNMENT (MARCH 2003 TO APRIL 2006).......................................................................... 17 DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS, INFLUENCES, DONATIONS AND PROJECTS IN NSW .. 28 AUSTCORP..................................................................................................................................................................... 28 BABCOCK AND BROWN ................................................................................................................................................. 29 BECTON PROPERTY GROUP ........................................................................................................................................... 29 BILFINGER BERGER AUSTRALIA –................................................................................................................................. 30 BRADCORP HOLDINGS................................................................................................................................................... 31 CIENNA GROUP ............................................................................................................................................................. 31 CPG AUSTRALIA........................................................................................................................................................... 31 CRIGHTON PROPERTIES ................................................................................................................................................. 32 CROWNLAND DEVELOPMENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 32 GROCON/GROLLO.......................................................................................................................................................... 32 HARDIE HOLDINGS........................................................................................................................................................ 33 HEZ .............................................................................................................................................................................. 35 HOLDMARK DEVELOPERS ............................................................................................................................................. 36 HALLIBURTON/KELLOGG BROWN & ROOT ................................................................................................................... 36 JOHNSON PROPERTY GROUP.......................................................................................................................................... 36 KIMBERLEY SECURITIES LTD ........................................................................................................................................ 36 KINGOLD GROUP........................................................................................................................................................... 36 KPMG..........................................................................................................................................................................
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