Parties views on donation laws must be public

Stuff reports:

The Ministry of Justice struck a deal with political parties to keep secret their submissions on donation law reform.

Last month the Government announced plans to overhaul the donations regime. The shake-up will cap anonymous donations to parties at $5000.

As part of the reform, political parties – and the public – were asked for their feedback on a range of policy options.

The ministry says it will release submissions from ordinary people. But it will not disclose those from three political parties.

That’s outrageous and I hope the Ombudsman intervenes.

If there are any submissions that should be public on donation laws, it is the submissions of those who are affected by it – the political parties.

There may be a case for a small portion of a submission to be redacted if it has confidential info such as overall income and/or membership levels, but the views of the political parties should not be kept confidential.

Brightwell did not say which three parties had requested anonymity and Stuff has asked for clarification.

However, last month National released its submission to Stuff when asked for it. The Labour Party refused.

Okay so we don’t have to be Einstein to work this one out.