The latest scandal to emerge from an ICAC enquiry is about to cost the ALP's general secretary her job. It seems that a Chinese billionaire with close ties to Beijing simply trotted into ALP headquarters bearing an Aldi shopping bag that contained a hundred thousand dollars in Australian banknotes and Kaila Murnain accepted the cash and did nothing.
The new leadership of the ALP professes to be " shocked " that this illegality was allowed to happen. Political parties are always desperate for donated money to pay for advertising prior to elections and we have firm laws about who is - and who is not - allowed to donate. That law is supposed to stop grubby little exchanges where money in paper bags are exchanged in a "nod and a wink " arrangement that the donor's interests will get favourable treatment in the parliament.
The ALP was considered in with a good chance of winning both the state and the last Federal election and the unexpected loss unseated both the leaders who took the party to those elections. Both of the new leaders will be very keen to disassociate themselves from this breach of the electoral code and obviously the axe must fall on an appropriate head. The general secretary's admission of guilt makes that choice obvious.
It will be interesting to see if the general secretary's demise is enough to lay the matter to rest. This was clearly a law breach and she allegedly reported it to a rather controversial Labor Senator and consulted a lawyer for advice, and both are keeping a low profile. Political donations that are outside the law are a constant source of innuendo across the entire political spectrum.
In the past this donation of money was usually from local institutions trying to buy political favour. The emergence of Facebook and the internet has widened that intrusion and we have both China and Russia actively using social media to influence thinking when it comes to the election results in foreign countries. It is suspected that Russia succeeded in swaying the outcome in the 2016 American presidential election.
The Australian voter is a lot more discerning that the politicians give them credit for. Now that the " fake news " epidemic has been exposed it will be much less effective but we will never entirely rid the system of money interests seeking to guide the way we vote. Money can always be disguised in a form that is legally acceptable unless public donations are entirely barred.
The more stories like this hundred thousand dollar bribe in an Aldi bag emerge the more people make their election choice after careful consideration. They are an exceptionally canny lot. Looking back over past history they usually managed to put the appropriate party into office to deal with the circumstances that prevailed at that time.
Politics are in safe hands when it comes to the Australian voters choice !
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