Donations should be disclosed to voters before election
Newcastle Greens
7 February 2007
Donations should be disclosed to voters before election, say Greens
The Greens candidate for Newcastle, Councillor Michael Osborne today denied that the Greens have ever received campaign donations from property developer Keith Johnson and called on all candidates to disclose to the voters where campaign funds are coming from.
"The Newcastle Herald today reported that Lake Macquarie property developer has given money 'occasionally to the Greens'. The Greens in their 20 year history have never received a donation from any company associated with Mr Keith Johnson and to the best of my knowledge have never received a donation from Mr Johnson as a private citizen," Greens candidate Councillor Michael Osborne said
Electoral records show that the Johnson Property Group donated $74,250 to Sydney Labor in 2005/05 and $39,500 to the Liberals in 2005/06.
"The Greens do not accept donations from corporations and Greens MPs like Lee Rhiannon have been campaigning to ban corporate donations and improving public disclosure and accountability The Greens are continuously disclosing to the public all donations over $200 on The Greens website," Councillor Osborne said.
"I call on all candidates for the seat of Newcastle, including Cr John Tate, Jodi McKay and Bryce Gaudry to pledge that they will not accept donations from developers in the upcoming State election and to publicly disclose their donation to the voters before the 24 March election," Councillor Osborne said.
Research by the Greens on developer donations shows the NSW Labor Party has raised $9.88 million from the property sector since 1998-99, and the NSW Liberals and Nationals received $7.01 million. Donations by developers can be searched at The Greens Democracy4Sale website, which is based on official electoral funding returns.
