With the ongoing Liberal scandals from Chopper-gate to Gold Coast get-aways, it is well past time for the Government to act on entitlements reform. Labor has consistently made it very clear to the Government that we will work with them to implement changes to the entitlements system based on the Conde review. But nearly 800 days since Bronwyn Bishop took being out-of-touch to new heights, more than 500 days since Chopper-gate forced Tony Abbott to order the Conde review, and more than 300 days since the review was completed, we are still waiting for the Turnbull Government to respond to the review. Labor is committed to reforms that improve transparency and allow Australians to have confidence in the system.
That is why last year we introduced legislation to the Parliament to deliver our policy on political donation reform. These reforms would reduce the disclosure threshold for political donations from $13,200 to $1000, and prohibit the receipt of foreign political donations. When Labor previously tried to introduce similar legislation in March 2016, Nick Xenophon and the Greens sided with the Government to vote against it. In the interests of greater transparency and public confidence in our political system, we again urge the Government to work with us to tighten rules around the parliamentary expenses system.