Christmas message of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell

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Labor Party trying to pull a fast one over political donations

THE Rudd Government has some heavy holiday reading for punters this summer. Last week John Faulkner released his electoral reform green paper, which asks some weighty questions about how best to reform our democracy from the improper influence of political donations. However, genuine reform will require the Labor Party to do its own house cleaning: kicking its addiction to union money and its reliance on union election campaigns. Anything less is window-dressing, at best. And, at worst, reforms that address concerns about the practices of pro-business parties while leaving untouched the abuses favoured by the unions will simply skew democracy in Labor's favour. One-sided reforms will actually damage democracy.

Should we cap donations? Or ban them? If so, donations by whom? Or do we simply require disclosure? If so, at what level do we require disclosure? And what of political and campaign expenditure? Do we cap this? If so, at what level? And the piece of political dynamite for the ALP: how about addressing the tax privileges that allow tax deductions for union contributions used for political purposes while denying tax deductions for contributions to the Liberal Party and other parties?

We know that corporations hand over buckets of money and expect favours in return. For the financial years 1999 to 2002, the ALP received about 19 per cent of its funding from corporate donations while 28 per cent of Liberal Party funding came from corporate donations, totalling $29million during that period. As Faulkner says, even the perception of undue influence is enough to potentially taint our democracy.

But let's be frank. The Rudd Government cannot undertake electoral reform unless Labor looks at the undue influence of unions - the union money that flows into Labor coffers via donations and affiliation fees, and the cashed-up campaigns unions run on behalf of Labor. During the 10 financial years to 2004-05, unions directed almost $50 million into the ALP national office and state and territory branches. And we don't know how much was given by unions directly to local ALP campaigns.

While companies can only hope their money will earn them political favours, unions can count on it happening. Annual affiliation fees unions pay to Labor secure representative rights at party forums. It's guaranteed under the ALP's constitution: union representatives get 50 per cent of seats at ALP state conferences to dictate Labor Party policy.

Indeed, union power is imprinted on Labor Party decisions across the nation. In NSW, unions have dictated criminal standards of proof for employers under NSW occupational health and safety laws. After the 2007 March state election then premier Morris Iemma elevated Paul Gibson to the ministry amid reports the National Union of Workers and the Australian Workers Union threatened to de-affiliate if Gibson was not promoted.

Then there's the botched privatisation of the NSW electricity industry. An elected government approved privatisation in the best interests of the people of NSW. The unions, wanting to secure the interests of feather-bedded union members, took a different view. They threatened to de-affiliate if the government did not cave into their demands. And so the government caved in. If a property developer had given money to a state government in return for a policy that favoured their own special interests, we would call this corruption.

When proposing the green paper, Faulkner promised to consider all options, including a ban on union donations and affiliation fees. "All money received by political parties - quantum as well as nature - will be examined, " he said. But will Labor be brave enough to do something? Labor Party national secretary Karl Bitar was quick to distinguish affiliation fees from donations because, he said, "under our rules, unions affiliate to have a role in the party". How convenient.

Earlier this year, the Rudd Government tabled a bill to tighten disclosure requirements for donations and reduce the threshold disclosure from $10,000 to $1000. But there is no point reducing thresholds on political donations - which are clearly aimed at cutting corporate and small business funding to the Liberal Party - without a broader look at political donations to all parties, whatever the source. And, even then, the thorny issue of third-party campaigns remains. Unions - representing 22 per cent of workers - spent $28 million at the previous election thumping the Howard government over Work Choices. Yet corporate Australia is reticent about engaging in third-party campaigns come election time. Do we stop people exercising their right to express views about government policy? It's a dilemma for anyone committed to freedom of expression.

Yet the nature of third-party campaigns in Australia is such that if we ban or cap donations (except by individuals) and allow third-party campaigns by unions to continue unabated, the political field is skewed against one side: the conservatives. This problem is compounded by Labor's dirty little political secret. Union dues and levies are fully tax deductible. Yet Labor plans to remove the deductibility of donations to the Liberal and other parties. That discrepancy gives Labor vastly increased firepower compared with its opponents. Labor, for example, can count on unions running pro-ALP Your Rights at Work-style campaigns using fully deductible union dues while the Coalition must struggle by on a meagre diet of donations slowed to a trickle by the Rudd Government's abolition of tax deductibility.

If you doubt the Government's sensitivity on this clever scam, read Stephen Conroy's response to Helen Coonan's attempts to get him to address this little earner in the Senate economics committee in February this year. Conroy ducked, weaved and danced. The one thing he wouldn't do was address the double standard. It was a powerful pointer to the way the Rudd Government would deal with electoral reform: the only certainty is that the Government will do nothing to draw attention to, let alone reduce, the tilting of the playing field its way. If Labor's bill to reduce thresholds for disclosure becomes law without any further action, the one-way skew will become even more pronounced.

The green paper on electoral reform is therefore likely to be mere camouflage to conceal these electoral tricks. The best outcome for those who seek an even playing field is that the green paper will be quietly shelved, relegated to the usual Rudd trick of lots of puffed-up promise early on full of rhetoric about securing the nation's future, followed by deliberate inaction. That would be better than more one-sided changes.

If electoral reform is simply a ruse for securing the political domination of Labor, which can rely on cashed-up third-party campaigning by unions then, regardless of your political stripe, it cannot be healthy for our democracy. So-called reforms that favour one party over another will deliver a much more damaging problem than the one we now confront.

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Another one of Australia's dangerous creatures



A newly-identified giant cousin of the dangerous Irukandji has been labelled the reigning king of jellyfish. North Queensland-based marine expert Lisa Gershwin on Friday formally identified the jellyfish, a member of the venomous and potentially deadly Irukandji family. The new species, which has a body measuring up to 15 centimetres in height and tentacles measuring up to a metre dwarfs its more common cousins. "It's huge, most Irukandji are one to two centimetres, this guy is massive," Ms Gershwin said.

Ms Gershwin says the species, which she named Morbakka Fenneri, was first discovered in Moreton Bay in 1985 but had not been formally identified. It is named in honour of marine expert Dr Peter Fenner, while Morbakka means Moreton Bay jellyfish. The species has been documented up and down the East Coast, From Sydney to Port Douglas but is most common around Redcliffe and Mackay.

Ms Gershwin said the Morbakka's Fenerri's sting, while not typically fatal, was nonetheless dangerous and had resulted in at least one victim being put on life support. "I don't want to mince words, it is a dangerous animal."

She believed there may be other species of Morbakka waiting to be discovered. "There could be more species of Morbakka and that's something I'm hoping to delve into over the next few years." Ms Gershwin will also embark on an 11 day expedition from Boxing Day to attempt to locate an even larger species of jellyfish which is believed to have a body up to half a metre in height.

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Festive feasts 'contributing to climate change'

Wasted food at Christmas time is now being highlighted as an environmental problem. Jon Dee, the chairman of Do Something, says gases from leftover food rotting in landfill are 20 times more potent than the carbon pollution from car exhausts.

Mr Dee says there are simple ways to avoid over-catering at Christmas and damaging the environment. "Australians waste more than 3 million tonnes of food every year and of course a lot of that food is wasted at Christmas," he said. "It's really basic. Draw up a shopping list and stick to it and try and not cook more than you need, and if you do have leftovers you can always put it in tupperware and freeze it."

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