Graham, the principle of voters (individuals) being able to donate to political parties or campaigns is fine; I am one of millions who do it.

But our opinions diverge re your statement opposing "New South Wales' banning political donations from people involved in the property development, tobacco, liquor or gambling industries."

You go on to say "Criminals can donate, but not citizens in bona fide legal industries which are also huge contributors to state government coffers....."

Corporations (legally defined as 'persons') are unlike individual voters in that they donate much more than individuals and in return they expect (and receive) legislation favoring their commercial interests. The prime examples are repeal of the carbon and mining taxes. These repeals favour corporations but disadvantage the great majority of citizens. In my opinion this is tantamount to bribery by rich and powerful interests and that is a perversion of democracy.

I have been living in the US for several months and the majority progressives I speak to in New York all lament what corporate donations have done to pervert the political system (the Koch Brothers - billionaire fossil fuel magnates - are the most commonly mentioned). Corporations buy their ultra right wing Congressional representatives and State governors, particularly in the rural areas. Cities, where a great majority live are nearly all progressive hence we have President Obama.

Let's NOT go the way of the US. Let's have:
- Donations only from real persons not corporations.
- Maximum limit to donations from any person in any one year (say $3000).
- Immediate publicizing of donations (not 1 year later as it is now)
- No donations from currently convicted criminals (we agree there)

Yes that would mean my preferred party the Greens would not have got their $1m but so be it. A lot more 'bribery of candidates' from Liberal (corporate donations) and Labor (unions) would be prevented.

PS The fact that some corporate donors are huge contributors to state coffers can be seen as a further perversion of real democracy

"If a candidate can't raise funds, then they are probably not worth voting for. It means no one who knows them is prepared to invest money in them. That's a sign you should think twice before investing a vote," says Graham!

So raising lots of money is considered by him to be a necessary virtue for a politician.

Could it be that, as Rose points out, money is destroying our democracy, that by funding politicians, corporations are buying political influence which enables them to make mega-bucks? Shock, horror, could this be true?

But then, making a buck is considered by some to be the epitome of human achievement. How pathetic!

Grahame, have you heard the saying that: Money Is The Root Of All Evil? Have you heard the saying that: every man has his price?

Looking at the Obeids and their ilk convinces me that those who make mega-bucks and those who do their bidding should be precluded from political office, end of story.

Money and greed destroys democracies!

I would suggest the true essence of Democracy is "one person, one vote".
This is about the only equality any of us in today's society can hope for.
The system of Lobbying, and granting access to Representatives according to their financial contributions is more like one dollar one vote.
Currently there is a push by our elected representatives to make virtually all their constituents criminals. Very very people, I would think have not recorded a program from TV or copied a disk or music, yet all these activities are technically illegal.
Yet the Liberal Party, paid by us to represent us is taking the side of the very rich and declaring us all criminals.
To whom does their loyalty belong?
The Australian Pirate Party is (as far as I am aware) the only party with policies directly addressing this egregious affront on Democracy.

Politicians would of course say it is an affront to their integrity to even imply that their votes could be bought through political donations.

In that case they should not object to all donations being directed through an independent body that could anonymise the source and pass the donation on. All audited independently.

However the donors and politicians would never agree to that, but whyever not?

When you combine a Capitalist system with Democracy corruption is the inevitable by-product, human nature guarantees that.
The correct quote is...
"For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil."
We live in a century and civilisation where the love of money is a fact of life and indeed is heavily promoted, if not forced down our throats.
The combination of that force and the Two-Party system has corrupted our entire democratic system almost beyond repair. That fact is clearly demonstrated by the government punishing and abusing, quite literally, the un-employed and socially challenged while simultaneously spending billions on failed arms programs and launching us into yet another war that has virtually nothing to do with us, costing millions and quite probably seeing young Australians killed and crippled for life.
It simply isn't possible to prevent such corruption, to demonstrate that I offer you B.Hawke, Champion of the Labor movement and Hero to the Worker. He did what no Lib' would have had the nerve to do, he de-regulated the banks, and now he lives as a multi-millionaire in the South of France with directorships and Board seats worth more annually than the rest of us will see in our entire lives.
Coincidence? OF COURSE it is, can you prove otherwise?
The solution? TBH, I don't think there IS one that will work, not until we rid ourselves of the entire Capitalist system, something I believe is long overdue.
We outgrew Kings and Nobles, we outgrew Religious Rule,(well, most of us), we are outgrowing "isms" of all kinds, hopefully, so why not look to replacing the worst "ism" of all, Capitalism?
Honestly, it's the 21st century, surely we can move beyond a system that's killing the planet and enslaving most of the population of that planet?

"Honestly, it's the 21st century, surely we can move beyond a system that's killing the planet and enslaving most of the population of that planet?"

And that is just the point. We cannot go on the way we are expecting with perpetual growth.
It is a finite Planet and there is a limit to what we do to it.
The best way to finance pollies would be to provide a set amount to each that would pay for a reasonable amount of TV adds and print media from the government and to ban all donations from individuals and certainly from corporations.
They by their very obligations under the rules must squeeze every last drop of profit to hand over to shareholders.
I would love to see the end of the Capitalist system and it will come one day but not in my lifetime.