Tasmanians are waiting up to 18 months for the source and size of political donations to be revealed.
Shadow Attorney General Ella Haddad said Will Hodgman’s government promised greater transparency, but is failing to deliver.
“Will Hodgman promised to reform Tasmania’s election donation laws immediately after the last state election and yet nearly two years later there has been no change.
“The government said it would release a report by the end of last year but failed to do so. There’s no good reason they’re dragging their heels on this, unless they have something to hide.
“Just last month it was revealed that Will Hodgman’s government received $75,000 from a private hospital operator.
“And the Liberals ‘overlooked’ disclosure of a $50,000 donation from the Tasmanian Hospitality Association made before the 2018 election. They then did a belated update to their donations disclosure to the Australian Electoral Commission, nearly two years after the election.”
Ms Haddad said political donations will be revealed by the Australian Electoral Commission early next month, and that disclosure will cover donations going back as far as July 2018.
“It’s not acceptable to wait up to 18 months for this information to be publicly available.
“Tasmania has the weakest political donation disclosure laws in the country. Labor supports significant changes to make sure the community knows who is funding elections.
“If Will Hodgman has nothing to hide he will support Labor’s position on disclosing all donations to political parties over $1000 and making sure the public has this information within 14 days of donations occurring.
“Anything less will fail to meet the community’s expectation.”
Ella Haddad
Shadow Attorney General
