CPA - The Guardian

There is something rotten in the state of Queensland. And in Victoria, NSW, WA and elsewhere besides. The stench given off by scandals involving secret commissions from big business to top political figures, the thousands of dollars paid per plate to attend Labor and Liberal Party fundraisers, the revolving door between ministers’ staff and corporate lobbyists and the payment of large amounts for intimate meetings with political heavyweights is becoming overpowering. Some state premiers have been forced to put some rules in place but the public is left wondering if anything short of a major re-jig of the electoral and political system will fix the problem of democracy for sale at the state, federal and local level.

Former Queensland government minister Gordon Nutall has gone to jail for receiving 35 secret payments from corporate interests totalling over $350,000 between 2002 and 2005. The Crime and Misconduct Commission is reportedly investigating allegations that the former health minister received a large amount of cash from a businessman involved in a government-funded multi-million-dollar project that did not go to tender. Nutall was not the first and will not be the last senior politician to be convicted for this sort of personal corruption of the process of government.

But what of the other, less direct and currently legal payments of cash for influence? Judging by the stream of reports in the media, this type of doubtful exchange is on the rise. The official report on “Utegate” might have cleared the PM and the Treasurer of wrongdoing in the Ozc ar affair but it also revealed how much “networking” goes on between business figures and senior politicians.

And why would a successful career politician risk this taint on his or her reputation or that of the party that launched them into parliament? Money, of course. Politics as usual in Australia has become a very expensive business. Chook raffles are out; fundraising dinners with tickets at $5,000 or $10,000 or more are the way to go.

The Liberals hold the priciest “forums”. Electoral disclosure forms reveal that businesses have paid up to $25,000 for a seat at the table. Labor knows how to charge, too. Woodside Energy CEO Don Voelte paid $5,500 to sit next to Kevin Rudd at an ALP fundraising dinner at which the PM spoke on his government’s proposed emissions trading scheme. Also tucking in was a representative from Phosphate Resources Limited, which is waiting on a ruling from the Commonwealth on whether it can extend the life of its operations on Christmas Island.

Mr Rudd also spoke at a fundraiser in North Perth that raised enough cash in a single night to wipe out a $90,000 campaign debt for failed Labor candidate Peter Tinley. The three-hour dinner was held in April at Maurizio’s Italian restaurant. The cost was $5,500 a plate. On the menu was a seven-course meal including pearl meat carpaccio, pasta, prickly pear sorbet, dhu-fish, lamb and cheeses – all washed down with a selection of Italian wines.

In Victoria, appointments with ministers are sold for $5,000 by the ALP’s fundraising arm, Progressive Business. Delegates to business forums can choose the ministers they would like to meet for a brief one-on-one conversation. Premier John Brumby sees nothing wrong with this practice. He points out that the forums are run on the same basis as the business briefings held during the ALP National Conference staged in Sydney recently. Political donations from individuals and companies are part of a healthy democracy, Brumby says, so long as there is accountability and disclosure.

NSW Premier Nathan Rees says dining with him is not good value for money. He maintains NSW has the “most robust laws of any jurisdiction” when it comes to political donations. He also says his meetings with business donors are transparent and that he avoided contact with donors whose projects were under active consideration.

However, on ABC Radio last week it was revealed that Dick Honan from agri-business company Manildra (which has an application with the government for the expansion of its starch factory at Bomaderry) attended a $10,000-a-head dinner with Mr Rees last November. A spokesman for the premier said the issue of the factory expansion was “off-limits” during the event. Approval for the expansion was given two moths later.

Queensland premier Anna Bligh has been hardest hit by dollars-for-influence scandals and has made some moves to clean up the image of her government. A list of corporate bigwigs who have paid for access to the premier was tabled in parliament last week. They include representatives from virtually all of the active developers in the state – Meriton Apartments, Thiess, John Holland, Leighton Holdings, Leighton Contractors, Lend Lease, etc. Leightons won a $1.1 billion contract earlier this year to build seven schools in southeast Queensland. Wingate Properties has donated more than $100,000 to the ALP over the past five years. They are seeking approval to develop Australia’s biggest master-planned community, Ripley Valley, near Ipswich.

Bligh has threatened to ban registered lobbyists from appointment to boards and other top government jobs. The question of lobbyists occupying sensitive government posts has become an embarrassment to governments across the country. The Queensland premier had to admit she has two former lobbyists – Stephen Beckett and Nicole Scurrah from the very successful Enhance Group – working in her office. Enhance is one of the firms at the centre of a scandal involving 33 changes to the southeast Queensland regional plan referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission. Bligh has said that the two deputy chiefs of staff were not involved in discussions of the plan.

Enhance Corporate is run by a former deputy premier of Queensland, Jim Elder. Lobbyists from his company have been seconded to the ALP to help out during election campaigns. This assistance is not subject to disclosure anywhere because they are volunteers. ALP state secretary Anthony Chisholm sees nothing wrong with this. “I’m comfortable making use of all volunteers within the ALP. I think using party members as volunteers to work out on campaigns is a longstanding practice.”

Lenin wrote as long ago as 1916 that the development of monopoly capitalism involved a fusing of big business with the political apparatus of the state. The community is right to be concerned at how advanced this process and how blatant related practices have become in Australia.

They want rules put in place to safeguard the democratic rights they have struggled to achieve and preserve. The NSW Greens are campaigning to have all developer donations to political parties and municipal candidates banned and for greater transparency to be introduced into the system.

The campaign deserves strong support.

For more information go to:www.democracy4sale.org

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