Banning donations from bad people should be encouraged.
It would mean that churches and other religious organisation could not donate to political parties.

Anyone who donates to a political party wants something in return. Ban all donations to political parties. They want the big prize; they can raise their own money.

and just how can they raise their own money without any donations??

I did not think that I would ever agree with something said by "ttbn" but banning ALL political donations is the only way to bring democracy back to our flawed political system.
A scenario for this would be;
Ban All donations to individuals and parties standing for election.
Allow a set time each week for each party on the ABC to air their views and policies.
Provide a set amount of money to cover the costs of mounting an election campaign to each party.
Only allow money from the election funding provided to, be used in the election campaign.

Unfortunately this is so unlikely to happen that we are going to be governed by corporations and rich individuals for the foreseeable future.

The High Court were never going to give a moral judgement, they were reviewing the constitutionality and validity of the NSW law which is exactly as it should be.

Having said that, I agree that all and every donation to a political party should be constantly and transparently available for public scrutiny, online and in real time.

We saw, belatedly the very odd situation where Australian Water Holdings gifted money to the Liberal Party at a time when a Liberal Party insider was their Chairman and at the same time, was Treasurer of the Liberal Party in NSW. That should have been available for public scrutiny instantly particularly as the person in question was evidently unaware that the donation had been made or received.

I believe the only way this can be managed is by banning all such secret donations/brown paper bags and the corruption they invite?

A better more transparent model has to be crowdfunding, which conceivably can deal both developers and unions out, given a large donation usually involves the expectation of some sort of outcome/preferential treatment?
Rhrosty.

Ponde,

How they raise their money without donations is their problem. Why anyone, apart from those seeking advantage, would want to hand over hard-earned money to the likes of self-serving politicians is beyond me. If you feel the need to help out someone you don't even know into putting his hand into your pocket as a politician, there is something very wrong with you indeed.

By the way, how many "bad" churches do you know of who donate money to political causes? Just one will do?

Your vehemence towards churches shows your total ignorance of any of the finer feelings and emotions of life.

Robert le Page.

Well, thank you so much for your backhanded compliment. You are clearly a 'brander' of people who don't agree with your every fancy.

ttbn,

You trying to tell me the churches do not support Fred Nile?

My vehemence against evil is nothing I need apologize for.

Am constantly suprised at the lack of comment and comprehension of writers and bloggers regarding the influence of Union's in providing much more effective unaccounted "political activity donations".

Understand the effect of a union campaign for whatever reason utilising their staff and printing dollars plus audio visual items and then mustering a substantial number of 'volunteers' to create a scene
Add to that the resultant NEWS coverage which will be far more effective than phamphlett drops.

Compare this with the campaigns to limit authorised donations and laugh

'You trying to tell me the churches do not support Fred Nile?'

Certainly the gw church does not Ponde. Self interested renewable groups want to continue to fleece the tax payer. Fortunatley church groups are funded by its folowers rather than body parts from slaughtered babies as does some humanist/feminist groups.

@ponde asks (Monday, 26 October 2015 9:38:26 AM):

"and just how can they raise their own money without any donations??"

Answer: chook raffles, 'undreds of 'em - free-range chooks of course!

That should keep everyone happy and at the same time provide for some increased employment, marginally higher protein uptake and allow all discerning greenies an unfettered opportunity to contribute to the common good :)

Ponde,

I believe Nile is a NSW oddity, not a political party. I have no idea about this vinegar-faced person, nor who he is supported by. Get over the parochialism, and concentrate on Australia. Answer the question: which churches donate to political parties?

We may indeed not like this practice of political donations, but just because we don't like certain things doesn't allow us to forbid others from doing them.

I can't find any rationale which could morally allow you to prevent someone from giving their [after-tax] money to another person: that the second person happens to be a party-member makes no difference.

On the other hand, nothing stops us from preventing political donations from incorporated companies. Nobody is forced to incorporate their business, so if a business seeks an incorporation-service from the state, then the state may legitimately demand certain conditions in exchange and "no-political-donations" could be one of them. Unlike individuals, companies are not sentient beings and their freedom to operate is not sacrosanct.

donations should come from individuals without anonymity only, be channelled through the electoral commission & be named publicly immediately.

Well I disagree with the anonymity part:

That would publicly expose the identity and political views of individuals, which in turn could cause fights and disturb the peace in families or even be used for revenge by the winning party(s) once in power. This is why voting is anonymous.

Yuyutsu, i respectfully disagree because encouraging people to be childish about serious matters is the cause of all our problems. if someone wants anonymity then maybe they have something to hide. if someone feels strongly enough about politics to donate then be loud & proud about it.

David Leyonhjelm Is letting his prejudice against the greens show.
Donor transparency will not help to save democracy. It does not matter if you know who has bought a politician, minister or government, the corruption is still there.
It might be of interest to him and others that the Americans actually had laws in place to stop donations from 1907 called the Tillman Act.
Unfortunately for the Americans this has been dismantled over the years and now we have a situation where for instance the Koch bros have $1billion ready for the next Republican candidate they chose.
No donations at all should be the aim of all politicians with integrity and the sooner the better.

Dear Imacentristmoderate,

It is not wrong to have something to hide for the sake of peace in the family.

Why turn sons and daughters against parents and grandparents to fight over political disagreements? or "You had all that money and didn't use it for this holiday I've been asking you for years"?

Or why should burglars know: "Oh, this person has extra money, let's pay them a night-visit..."?

Or politicians saying: "now I've discovered that this guy is in the opposite camp, so they won't get (or retain) a public job"?

Being serious about bringing a change, especially when attempting to topple a corrupt regime in order for one to be able to resume their own normal life uninterrupted by that regime, should not require one to become a political martyr.

I consider the above issues not childish, but very serious matters, I'm sorry you don't.

Robert LePage, OH-Bummer took more Wall Street cash than all Republican candidates combined then paid out more bailouts than Bush.

Yuyutsu, 1, ALL family members have been trained to create conflict by the PC thought police. they need UN-training.
2, burglars already know where rich people live.
3, living in fear of the PC thought police is how they control you.
4, bent businessmen usually bribe both sides.
5, read 3, again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0OMd4mmg38

imacentristmoderate:

And your point is?

@ Robert LePage, left wing religion is even more corrupt than center & right wing politics.

Lets just face the ugly truth.
Politics only care about citizens when we head to the polls.
Political donations are how the rich or the corporations buy influence and loyalty during the times between elections when governments could not give a crap about the people.