MEDIA COMMENT

Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon has responded to reports that the Treasurer is pushing ahead with a series of exclusive high powered fund raising events for his election fund raising body the North Sydney Forum.

"Mr Hockey should release the list of attendees to reduce the perception of donation deals done behind closed doors," Senator Rhiannon said.

Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon's calls for political donations reform have been featured on SkyNews, ABC, 

Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon has called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey to reveal details of the Liberal Party fund raising bodies, the Warringah Forum and the North Sydney Forum.

"The Prime Minister and Treasurer are now associated with the growing NSW Liberal Party political donation scandal and need to quickly reveal details of the members of the Warringah Forum and the North Sydney Forum and the amount of money they have donated," Senator Rhiannon said.

A new analysis has shown that the federal divisions of the Labor, Liberal and National parties have received more than $108 million in donations from corporate donors since 2002.

“Evidence presented to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has highlighted the corrosive and damaging influence of political donations,” said Senator Lee Rhiannon, Australian Greens democracy spokesperson.

Senator Lee Rhiannon, Australian Greens democracy spokesperson, has welcomed the decision of the Labor and Liberal parties to support Senate voting reforms that would abolish Group Voting Tickets.

“We welcome multi-party support for a system that the public and the experts prefer. These reforms would take power away from political parties and put it in the hands of voters”, Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon said.

The Australian Greens have called on both Liberal and Labor to urgently consider legislation for a national ICAC-equivalent in light of recent events in NSW politics.

This article was published in the Guardian on 17 April 2014.

An Australian Greens bill for a national Integrity Commissioner is already before federal Parliament.

The Labor and Coalition's call to scrap the Australian Electoral Commission and replace it with a politically partisan board will be a blow to fair and independent elections said Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon.

"The Australian Electoral Commission must be maintained as an impartial and independent administrator, not one which sings to the tune of the Government of the day, which is where the major parties want to take it," said Senator Rhiannon.

The Greens have called on the Coalition and Labor parties to support caps on electoral expenditure to eliminate the unfair advantage wealthy people can gain for their candidates by spending millions of dollars on election advertising.

Greens democracy spokesperson Senator Lee Rhiannon is in discussion with her Senate colleagues to introduce legislation that would set election spending caps.