Democracy, ANTI-Corruption & Integrity
We need a government for people, not corporate donors, casinos and cartels - government decisions should benefit us all.
Confidence in politics is at an all time low, and that’s not surprising. Whether it’s shopping bags full of cash or a Premier's secret relationship revealed only under questioning at the ICAC, it’s clear that politicians from the major parties are out to deliver for their corporate donors. It’s time we put a stop to this - and make sure politics is about taking action and making decisions that will benefit us all.
Without strong, independent and well-resourced bodies to shine a light on decisions and stamp out corruption, politicians and big corporations will continue to do the wrong thing. Their time is up.
The Greens have a plan to bring integrity back to politics, improve public participation in democratic processes, and make politicians look out for everyone’s interests - not just political donors.
The Greens will:
- End the special relationship between government and business by banning all corporate political donations, fixing political lobbying and closing the revolving door between Parliament and the big end of town.
- Tackle corruption every day with independent funding for the ICAC and new criminal offences for corrupt conduct.
- Restore confidence in our democracy by putting a stop to pork-barrelling, bringing truth to political advertising, and rebuilding our public services.
BAN ALL CORPORATE POLITICAL DONATIONS
Corporate donations taint the democratic process – they allow big business to buy a level of access to politicians that ordinary people can’t afford.
In NSW, property developers, the tobacco industry, and the liquor and gambling industries are banned from donating to political parties. In response we see donations directed to the federal parties where donation rules are totally inadequate. A range of industries continue to exert their influence for special consideration, holding the government to ransom on issues that matter.
Over the last ten years corporate donors have handed federal Labor, Liberal and National parties $23 million a year to peddle influence and buy special treatment. That’s $230 million since 2012!
The Greens will lobby to fix federal laws to ban corporate donations to political parties, and end the special treatment for corporations in NSW by closing this back door to donations.
CLOSE THE REVOLVING DOOR BETWEEN PARLIAMENT AND BIG BUSINESS
How can we trust a system where senior government ministers can switch to highly-paid roles related to their former portfolios soon after leaving office?
The Greens will close the revolving door with our plan to:
- Mandate a five-year ’cooling off' period for politicians before they are permitted to become corporate lobbyists in areas related to their previous portfolios;
- Immediately extend the cooling-off period between holding public office and working in an industry the office regulates 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 a Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner to investigate potential breaches of the laws relating to lobbying and MPs’ personal finances.
FIX POLITICAL LOBBYING
Allowing individuals and groups to put their ideas to decision makers is central to democracy and good decision making.
But a poorly regulated lobbying system means powerful and well-resourced groups are influencing policy to serve their own interests.
Those with the most to gain from government decisions lobby harder and get more access to senior politicians - often without much scrutiny.
Who is in the room matters. We need a system that deters and exposes political decisions being made for private gain, rather than in the public interest.
The Greens will fix the system so that all political lobbying is recorded - including by a politician on behalf of a third party. We will ensure shadow ministers and their advisors’ meeting diaries are made public, and establish a new lobbying register for local government officials.
Our reforms will deliver transparency across the board, and place further restrictions on high risk lobbying by property developers and others who stand to bank significant gains from favourable political decisions.
DOUBLE FUNDING FOR THE ICAC
The Independent Commission Against Corruption is one of the most effective corruption fighting organisations in the world.
But in October 2019, the Chief Commissioner of the ICAC warned that their ability to police corruption in NSW was under serious threat from funding cuts – ICAC was $3.9m short of what it needs just to maintain its current operations.
Alarmingly, it is the Premier’s own Department that determines the ICAC’s funding. The investigation into former Premier Berejiklian’s conduct and her association with corrupt former MP Daryl Maguire shows just how fraught this arrangement is.
The Greens will double funding for the ICAC and introduce a new funding model that will give the ICAC long term certainty and ensure their budget is independent of the government of the day.
NEW CRIMINAL OFFENCES FOR CORRUPT CONDUCT
Over decades, successive Liberal and Labor governments have passed hundreds of laws making clear criminal penalties for a range of criminal conduct.
But one area they have both failed to address is corruption. In NSW corruption, bribery and misconduct crimes are still mostly governed by old common law offences. This makes them difficult to prosecute, and - as we have seen through a string of ICAC investigations in recent years - some politicians are prepared to take calculated risks.
The Greens will end this bipartisan phenomenon. We’ll introduce new laws to modernise and strengthen our response to corruption, based on recommendations from the ICAC that the government has repeatedly ignored.
END PORK-BARRELLING AND GRANT FUNDING RORTS
Since the 2019 election we’ve seen the rorting of government funds and community grant money to benefit the Coalition at unprecedented scale.
Ninety-five percent of the $252million Stronger Communities Fund went to councils in coalition held seats, with just a handful of emails between the Premier and Deputy to justify the allocation of these grants.
It was the Greens who led the charge against this blatant pork-barreling, revealing that the Premier’s office had shredded and digitally deleted approval records to cover their tracks.
To make sure this never happens again we’ll introduce mandatory, independent scrutiny of all grant program allocations. And we’ll continue to hold the government to account, every single day.
BRING TRUTH TO POLITICAL ADVERTISING
Political ads designed to mislead or deceive voters have no place in our democracy. But due to a High Court interpretation of electoral laws from more than 40 years ago, it is perfectly legal to lie in political advertising in New South Wales. It’s well past time we fixed this.
Without action and regulation, we risk the further erosion of integrity in politics, with election campaigns sliding into a free-for-all of fake news.
The Greens will fix these laws so we can finally expect politicians and candidates to tell the truth in political advertising. We’ll make sure complaints about truth in political ads can be investigated by the ICAC as well.
FIERCELY INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIAL PUBLIC SERVICE
The people of NSW need a government that works for them, not one that gives special treatment to big political donors and property cartels. We need transparency and accountability in government, not a system that lines corporate pockets and rewards favours for mates.
The Greens are ready to take this on. We’ll rebuild public institutions, stop the sell off of our public assets and restore accountability to Parliament.
Pull the Pin on Pokies
NSW has almost half of Australia’s poker machines and loses more to gambling per person than anywhere else in the world, including $130 billion just to pokies in the last 30 years.
For too long poker machines have been allowed to devastate the lives of tens of thousands of people every year in NSW, breaking down families and communities and causing housing insecurity, homelessness, food insecurity, relationship breakdown, domestic violence and even suicide.
The powerful gambling lobby wields enormous influence on the major parties via political donations made by the more than 1,000 local clubs across the state. The Greens will stand up to the powerful gambling industry with a plan to pull the pin on pokies in NSW.
- Make pubs and clubs pay for the harm they’ve caused with a pokies ‘super tax’ and reparation fund for affected communities.
- Phase out poker machines from pubs in 5 years and clubs in 10 years
- Introduce a mandatory cashless gambling card
- Reduce gambling harms with $1 bet limits, midnight to midday pokies curfews and prohibiting addictive features and advertising
- Reduce the social costs of pokies to NSW by $87 billion over ten years
- End the grip of the gambling industry on our democracy by prohibiting gambling donations
REIN IN ONLINE GAMBLING
Gambling is out of control in NSW. The state has almost half of Australia’s poker machines and loses more money per person to gambling than anywhere else in the world. However, online gambling poses even greater risks than gambling in a venue.
Serious gambling harm is twice as high in online gambling. Online gambling means anyone can gamble anywhere, anytime on nearly anything. This is causing a huge spike in gambling amongst younger people.
The online gambling industry is poorly regulated and bombarding our screens, airwaves and public spaces with advertisements specifically targeted at young men. This is normalising betting by sending the message that it is all ‘part of the fun’ of enjoying sport.
The Greens have a plan to reign in the online gambling industry and reduce gambling harms.