A NOTE ABOUT MONEY
BY SONYA SEMMENS
Philanthropy Lead, Australian Greens
The truth is, money has worked its way into our democratic process and turned it rotten at the core. Why do Labor keep approving coal and gas projects when they know the threat? Donations. Why do developers get priority and public housing doesn't? Donations.
It’s no wonder there’s a direct correlation between money spent on political campaigns and seats won. Our parliament is captured…
The good news is, we’re not.
And together with you, we’re going to take our parliament back.
We’ve improved our procedures.
We’re determined to restore and protect a true democracy. We can’t risk a parliament captured by fossil fuel, where lobbyists outnumber MPs eight to one.
So we’re working towards publicly funded elections at all levels of government, and total transparency and accountability on campaign spend. As you can imagine, the major parties are putting up a fight to maintain their power and the status quo. In fact, right now they’re doing a closed-door deal on electoral reform to make it harder for minor parties and independents to get elected.
Despite this, we’re determined to lead the way. In November, the Australian Greens made our own donations bylaw even more rigorous and accountable. We already refuse donations from vested interests and disclose donations publicly. Now we’ve also made it clear in the bylaw we won’t take donations from any public for-profit corporations. And we’ve tightened the threshold so any gift of $1,000 or more is reviewed by our Donations Review Board.
We want to ensure we’re powered by individual people who care - like you!
Cost of living is hurting our campaigns.
You may have seen Adam’s email about the cost of living crisis having an impact on our supporters. We have a high proportion of renters and young people in our supporter base.
Sadly, we’ve had people calling to let us know the $20 a week rent increase they’ve just received means they’ve had to cut everything - including their regular donation to the Greens.
The bottom line is our fundraising is below target this quarter. And it’s threatening our revolutionary “continuous campaign” strategy to win the balance of power in the federal parliament.
So this is an emergency call out. If you’re in a position to give, can you help us plug the funding gap?
Individual people like you are the beating heart and soul of our movement. Your support today will make sure we don’t miss an historic and consequential opportunity for growth in the parliament. So we can restore democracy - and save our future.