30 August 2016
Greens MP Jamie Parker has called for an urgent review of the laws against electoral corruption in the wake of the ICAC’s report into Operation Spicer.
The ICAC report has exposed prohibited donations, fund channeling and non-disclosures in the run up to the Liberal Party’s State election campaign in 2011.
A number of individuals have been found to have acted with the intention of evading laws relating to political donations. The report also found that the Free Enterprise Foundation was used to channel donations to the Liberal Party for its State election campaign, disguising the true identity of the donors.
Mr Parker, the Greens anti-corruption spokesperson said:
"The community was already highly sceptical of the integrity of politicians, after a long line of Labor and Liberal MPs were exposed by the ICAC.
Now the ICAC report has taken us deeper into this web of lies and dishonesty and exposed the corrupt relationship between politicians and developers in NSW.
No wonder both the Labor and Liberal parties have opposed the Greens moves to establish a Federal anti-corruption body. In NSW Labor and Liberal also united to block the Greens bill to reduce corruption risk by banning political donations from mining and petroleum companies.
If the Liberals are serious about political donation reform, they need to establish a Federal ICAC and introduce uniform Federal and State donation laws.
Only in NSW can you receive a bag full of cash from a property developer in the back of a Bentley, and not be named as 'corrupt'.
Even though the semantics might have been changed through legal manoeuvring by expensive lawyers, the public will see this for what it is – a large section of the Liberal party acting with the intention to break the law.
The public will be disgusted that Christopher Hartcher, who has been found to have intended to evade the law and may be charged with larceny, was a Cabinet Minister in the Liberal government.
The Premier should act now to call on Mike Gallacher, who was found to have acted with the intention of evading the law, to resign from Parliament.
The culture of political donations is still embedded in NSW politics. The Premier must implement far reaching reform and strengthen of the laws around corruption, misconduct and bribery in public office.”
ENDS
Gemma Pitcher 96607586
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