Tackling political corruption

Corporate donations taint the democratic process – they allow big business to buy a level of access to politicians that ordinary people can’t afford. 58 percent of Australians support a total ban on political donations by companies and unions.

Currently in NSW, property developers, the tobacco industry, and the liquor and gambling industries are banned from donating to political parties.

A number of industries continue to exchange money for future special consideration by politicians, to the detriment of our state.

Fossil fuel companies donated $968,343 to the ALP, Liberal and National parties in 2016-17 while registered clubs – who lobby directly against gambling reform in NSW – are still permitted to make political donations.

The Greens will:

Ban political donations from all corporations in NSW, including fossil fuel companies (coal, oil and gas companies), registered clubs and other not-for-profit gambling entities.

JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN TO End political donations

45 percent of Australians think there is widespread corruption in politics. Whistleblowers play an essential role in exposing corruption within our political system but fear of criminal, civil or disciplinary liability can deter individuals from disclosing information to authorities.

The current Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Act only provides limited protection to people who provide information to the Commission. This protection does not apply where a person voluntarily discloses information to the Commission about corrupt conduct that the ICAC is not currently investigating.

Increased disclosure protections were proposed by the ICAC in their submission to the ICAC Committee’s Inquiry into Prosecutions Arising from Independent Commission Against Corruption Investigations in 2014.

The Greens will:

Introduce legislation to better protect people from criminal, civil or disciplinary liability if they voluntarily disclose information to the ICAC for the purposes of the ICAC’s functions.

The people of NSW want a government built for them, not big political donors. We need transparency and accountability in government, not a system run to serve corporate profits.

We need to rebuild public institutions, stop the sell off of our public assets and restore accountability to Parliament.

Our action plan:

Create a democracy charter to:

• End the privatisation of public assets and services;
   
• End the outsourcing of advice – lift state public service wage freeze and expand public service;

• End the corporatisation of social service provision;
   
• Reform parliamentary processes to increase transparency and accountability (e.g. inappropriate use of cabinet-in-confidence);
   
• Increase transparency in tendering processes;
   
• Ensure Parliament approves outsourcing and contracting instead of government departments.

Over decades, successive Liberal and Labor governments have passed hundreds of laws making clear criminal penalties for a range of criminal conduct. One area of law they have failed to address is corruption.

In NSW, corruption, bribery and misconduct crimes are still primarily governed by old common law offences. These changes have been developed based on suggestions from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) that had previously been ignored by government.

Our action plan:

Reintroduce a Crimes Amendment (Misconduct in Public Office and Other Matters) Bill to better capture corrupt conduct including:

• Bribing public officials;

• Public officials accepting bribes;

• Public officials misusing information obtained in an official capacity;

• Public officials engaging in official conduct for dishonest purposes;

• Public officials acting in matters in which they have a financial interest;

• Conspiring to dishonestly obtain a benefit from, or to defraud, public authorities or public officials.

Information is fundamental to democracy. Corrupt conduct can only exist behind a veil of secrecy where proper and public transparency is not made a priority.

Governments and political parties must proactively release information about what they do, especially in relation to political donations and lobbying.

Our action plan:

• Require all MPs to disclose the financial affairs of their immediate family members to make it harder to hide the proceeds of corrupt dealings;

• Impose unexplained wealth tests on MPs and require full disclosure of an MP’s personal and immediate family financial interests;
   

• All lobbying of ministers, parliamentary secretaries, ministerial staff and public servants should be minuted, and those minutes made publicly available online in real time.

• End pay-per-view style fundraising events that give political donors exclusive access to government Ministers or Shadow Ministers in exchange for cash. 

The public doesn’t trust a system where senior government ministers are allowed to switch to highly-paid lobbying roles related to their former portfolios instantly after leaving office.

Transparency International has singled out two former federal MPs, Martin Ferguson and Ian MacFarlane, who became lobbyists after serving as federal resources ministers.

Currently NSW law allows government ministers and parliamentary secretaries to take up roles as lobbyists in their former portfolio area after just 18 months with no rules for advisors or staffers.

Our action plan:

• Politicians will be subject to a five-year ’cooling off' period before they are permitted to become corporate lobbyists;

• Extend the cooling-off period between holding public office and working for an industry that was regulated by the public official to cover all public servants and ministerial staff;

• Introduce legislation for a compulsory code of conduct for retiring MPs in relation to their subsequent employment;

• Create an Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner with responsibility for investigating potential breaches of the laws relating to lobbying and MPs’ personal finances, prosecuting minor matters, and referring others to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

The increase in the outsourcing of government functions has led to more contracts between government and the private sector. Often ‘commercial-in-confidence’ is used to withhold information about government contracting activities from the public and the Parliament.

This contractual cloak of confidentiality works against the principle of open, transparent and accountable government.

The Greens will:

Empower the Integrity Commissioner, in all instances where public

access to details of lobbying activities is denied due to confidentiality or commercial-in-confidence reasons, to assess the validity of the determination in the first instance and if access is denied subsequently, allowing appeal to the NSW Supreme Court.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is the one body responsible for protecting the people of NSW from political corruption.

In order to be effective, the ICAC needs proper funding. But budget cuts by successive governments have forced ICAC to layoff investigators and created a gap between demand for their services and available resources.

The ICAC should be supplied with a budget that allows it to staff the investigative teams it needs to respond to every tip off and effectively carry out its functions. It shouldn’t have to rely on temporary staff.

The Greens will:

• Double ICAC funding over two years to extend their investigative reach and close the gap between demand and resources in its assessments and investigations divisions.