CONFLICTS of interest are a fact of life. The issue is how they are managed. In politics and policy, where public trust is so crucial, the key to managing conflicts of interest – and thus minimising the potential for corruption – is the application of two fundamental principles: transparency and accountability.
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This is so self-evident it beggars belief Australia has such inadequate rules around political donations. In short, there are many loopholes, copious opportunities to disguise payments and a ridiculously long lag – often more than a year – between making a donation and it being publicly declared, if at all.
Recent events are once again demonstrating just how shockingly inadequate those rules are. Senior Labor senator Sam Dastyari's gormless and repeated acceptance of money from interests linked to the Chinese government is but the latest example. Lamentably, examples of inappropriate behaviour are legion on all sides of politics.
In the Dastyari case, key members of the Coalition are making the absurd argument there is no link between the senator's folly and the lack of proper laws. Of course there is. That is the very point. While Senator Dastyari's behaviour is clearly unacceptable at an ethical level, it is likely he has not transgressed the law. The law must be changed.
It is obvious that people and organisations do not donate to political parties out of benevolence and altruism; they do so out of self-interest, in the expectation their dollars will buy influence over lawmakers, whose duty is to act in the national interest.
There is widespread consensus in the Parliament and in the community on what such reform should incorporate. Core elements are: online public disclosure of donations within 24 hours of them being made; reducing the disclosure threshold from $13,000 to $1000; capping donations from individuals, corporations and lobbying organisations to, say, $2000 for an individual candidate and $5000 for a party; banning donations from foreign interests; ending unions' compulsory donations to Labor of members' fees; capping spending by parties on overall election campaigns and on individual seats; and increased compliance penalties.
Two other things are required. First, to compensate for ending insidious, murky private financing, the public funding system should be extended, based on votes received. Second, there should be a national anti-corruption commission, with full judicial powers, to oversee the system.
