Top article outlining the dangers of lobbyocracy. Glad to hear there is finally a backlash building. This reform is vital with the cascading issues facing future generations.

Lets hope Councilors remain independent, tho it seems the party machines are rapidly taking over local council too.

If you have any similar information remember to add it to the wiki found at http://lobbyocracy.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

similar information? how about the history of the human race, that should tell you what you need to know about gate-keepers and rentiers.

corruption is endemic in any parliamentary society. the only cure is democracy. find out what it is, and how to get it, or relax and participate in the flow of bribery.

This was a good article, however it only addresses half the answer (forbidding councillors or politicians to receive "developer" donations). The best way to constrain corruption at all levels of government, especially local government, is to destroy the price of land (as distinct from improvements to land). Humanity did not make the land and individual landowners (including developers) should not be allowed to pocket profits from its development or resale where those profits are due to the presence & planning approvals of the surrounding community. I wrote an LLM essay on this -- was awarded 98.5%.

http://www.spains.com.au/Detailed%20Essays/David%20Spain/SR%20&%20Town%20Planning.pdf

DS

Brad,

Thank you for a thoughtful article.

But, have I missed something? Is the Urban Task Force calling for a ban on all donations or just corporate donations? If it is the latter, it is something with which I would agree in spite of the fact that it looks like a cynical PR ploy as you have suggested.

Still, means to fund elections campaigns need to be found. I think at least the ABC and should be obliged to give all candidates the opportunity to present their views and to debate with other candidates.

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To go off on a slight tangent. If one wants to understand how the growth lobby, comprised largely of developers and land speculators have gained such a grip on the policy agendas of our national, state and local governments, can I recommend Sheila Newman's excellent 2002 thesis:

"The Growth Lobby and its Absence : The Relationship between the
Property Development and Housing Industries and Immigration Policy
in Australia and France"

It is downloadable from http://candobetter.org/sheila

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James Sinnamon,
Independent anti-growth candidate for Lord Mayor of Brisbane
http://candobetter.org/SweepOutCityHall

Can we also ban donations from unions to the ALP? And can we make it illegal for unions to run campaigns against government policies they don't like, such as the recent one against WorkChoices which was little more than electioneering for the ALP? I can't remember the unions running a campaigns against the Accord which the Hawke government brought in during the 1980s, even though this reduced employees' wage rises to well below the inflation rate, i.e. it severely disadvantaged them.
Donations should not be banned, just made totally transparent. Political parties should put detailed information about all donations above $2 on a public website on a monthly basis, so that shareholders of companies and members of unions can all see where their money is going.

I am truly astonished to see that anyone would have the effrontery to complain of the Union movement's "Rights at Work" campaign without even acknowledging the AU$100 million plus of taxpayers money spent on the fraudulent saturation-level pro-WorkChoices propaganda campaigns in support of legislation that was not even put to electors in 2004.

Where would this country be today, if not for the "Rights at Work" campaign?

Most probably the truth about Howard's IR 'reforms' would have been concealed from sufficient numbers of Australians as to allow Howard's grossly incompetent and morally bankrupt Government to scrape back in.

Even ex-Government ministers such as Joe Hockey have acknowledged implicitly the truth of the claims of the "Rights at Work" campaign which they must have all known all along.

If there were any justice, the Liberal Party and their corporate backers would be given the full bill for the costs of both the "Work Choices" advertising campaigns as well as for the "Rights at Work" campaign which the former made necessary and all the former ministers of Howard's government would be behind bars today.