“We like to think it’s the greedy money-loving conservatives who take the lead, but the truth is the Labor Party is up to its neck in the same dirty game,” writes “The Gadfly” columnist ROBERT MACKLIN. 

 ASK any Australian and they’ll tell you we have the best electoral system in the world – compulsory voting, preferential choice, and speedy, impartial vote counting. 

Kim Beazley says we’re widely seen as “democracy’s poster child”.

I agree but with one proviso: Our system is corrupt and becoming more so with every passing poll. 

Across all three levels of government, we have allowed – indeed encouraged – the mighty dollar to destroy the integrity of our democracy. And the gutless wonders of the major parties – recently joined by the so-called Teals – have revelled in it.

We are now heading for the American abomination where huge sums are donated by billionaires to hopeful candidates to direct their votes in Congress and across the judiciary. What’s left is an ugly, hateful shadow of humanity’s best hope to survive and prosper in this increasingly perilous world. 

We passed the latest milestone recently with the ABC report of a massive undeclared donation of funds from Hancock Prospecting to the Liberal Party via the Sydney Mining Club. It was followed by the so-called “gambling companies” – the casinos and Sportsbet among others – having contributed more than $9 million to the major parties in the past two decades. This was obviously designed to avoid regulations to diminish their profits from poker machine addicts and money launderers. 

Sportsbet, we’re told, paid $19,000 last year to the federal campaign of Labor’s Michelle Rowland, now the Communications Minister with a key role in gambling policy. To calls for her resignation, Minister Rowland responded – correctly – that she had abided by the electoral laws and “the ministerial code of ethics”. 

So the Parliament has decided that what you and I might call “blatant influence-peddling” is now quite legal and even “ethical”. The peril is upon us.

In some states or territories, so-called “developers” are banned from making contributions. But if you believe they and their former political recipients abide by the spirit (if not the letter) of the law, then roll up – I have a Harbour Bridge going cheap. 

We like to think that it’s the greedy money-loving conservatives who take the lead with their shady business mates. But while they certainly skate close to the legal limits, the truth is the Labor Party is up to its neck in the same dirty game. 

They used to say the party was the political instrument of the trade unions with the moral right to union funds to elect their members. But today the unions are small beer; and they can run their own campaigns anyway.

But here’s the thing: the vast spending on both sides cancels each other out. The only winners are the con men from advertising agencies who play on the fears of the pollies. The loser is our tenuous hold on democracy.

I don’t claim the perfect solution, but surely it must begin with banning all payments to political parties. Then we could use the magic of television, which provides a remarkably accurate X-ray to the participant’s character. 

One channel of the TV spectrum could be used exclusively for political interviews via unseen questioners, perhaps AI generated? And before all set election dates, prospective members – having personally collected 200 unique signed supporters – would be questioned for 30 minutes. Meantime, all government advertising would be banned unless publicly endorsed – in the advertisement – by the opposition leader. 

I’m not suggesting any change to the usual operations of our news media, except that all paid advertising is banned; so with nothing to spend it on, political “donations” instantly become a thing of the past. 

Now that’s what I call a “poster child”.

robert@robertmacklin.com