reens MP and health spokesperson Lee Rhiannon says Health Minister Verity Firth's plan to ban cigarettes from view in shops may well be facing resistance in NSW Cabinet because of past donations from the tobacco and retail industries to both Labor and the Coalition.
"Banning displays of cigarettes in shops will be difficult until the major parties knock back political donations which give tobacco companies and the retail industry the ear of NSW MPs," Ms Rhiannon said.
"Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell has been noticeably quiet on putting cigarettes out of sight, perhaps because of the donations his party receives from the tobacco industry.
Letter to the Editor, Illawarra Mercury, dated 15 July 2008
Dear Editor,
Their audacity knows no bounds. Their utter disdain for this community's opinion is unnerving. For the Iemma Government and Babcock & Brown to even consider carrying on with this "large scale tourist resort" atrocity in tiny Killalea State Park when the revelation of massive donations to the NSW ALP by Babcock & Brown (over $350,000) before, during and after the tendering process, have been confirmed on the public record, is shockingly symptomatic of the level of sleaze that this Iemma State Government has descended to.
Reports in today’s Sydney Morning Herald (p. 9) that Planning Minister Frank Sartor is about to overrule independent advice and approve a major residential development at Catherine Hill Bay continues the pattern of the Labor government favouring the interests of party
donors.
Electoral Authority figures reveal that Rosecorp, the developer behind the Catherine Hill Bay proposal, made payments of over $143,000 to the NSW ALP in the lead up to last year’s state election.
“Minister Sartor has a record of overruling or ignoring independent advice from expert panels and his own department when making decisions that have resulted in big financial windfalls to ALP donors,” said Sylvia Hale, NSW Greens MP and planning spokesperson.
Greens MP and donations spokesperson has criticised the Government's new political donations law, saying that Premier Iemma has gone back on his word to clean up donations before the September local government elections (p 4, Sydney Morning Herald).
"The new donations laws just passed by NSW parliament will not stop the kind of corruption scandals we have seen this year happening in Wollongong," Ms Rhiannon said.
"The Premier is duping the public when he says this law will clean up donations. The reality is that these laws entrench the culture of political donations in NSW.
"The new donations law will not let the public see who is accepting big donations in the lead up to the 13 September local government election.
REFORMS to NSW's political donations and
campaign spending rules will not stop MPs and councillors who are members of
political parties hiding the source of their campaign funding, critics
say.
The electoral disclosure reforms before the lower house, they say,
will leave voters in the lead-up to the September council elections in the dark
about how candidates have funded their campaigns, despite requiring parties,
candidates, MPs, councillors and donors to disclose political donations twice a
year.
The new Code of Conduct for Councillors will not remove the problem of political donations from developers influencing planning decisions unless it covers donations made to the political parties as well as to individual Councillor’s campaigns, according to NSW Greens MP, Sylvia Hale.
“I think everyone would agree that if a councillor has taken a donation from a developer the councillor should not vote on an application from that developer. The same should apply if the developer has made a donation to the Councillor’s party.”
“Under the government’s code independent councillors will be the only ones to be excluded from voting because parties will simply channel all donations through their head offices. Premier Iemma has already said Labor will move to centralise all donations.”
The Greens MPs will today move to put some teeth in the government's political funding bill by putting forward amendments to ban corporate and group donations and cap election expenditure for parties and candidates.
"Premier Morris Iemma’s political funding bill is a major disappointment as it stops short of winding back the corrupting influence of donations and sets up barriers to independent candidates," Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said.
"With three months to go until the local council election the Premier clearly had time to put in place his promised ban on donations.
