Clover reveals election funding

Another press release from Clover Moore follows. Funny how the weekend papers failed to cover this:

Election campaign funding reports for March local government election show some City of Sydney candidates received large donations from development interests, while many funding sources for the major party
candidates are hidden by head office collections.

In contrast to the other candidates, my campaign was supported by small donations from the community. I received $29,201 in donations of amounts of $1,000 or less. Of this, $20,000 came in donations of $500 or less. I also received $30,000 from the Living Sydney group.

As a community independent, I have relied on community donations in all my campaigns. Many large donors expect access and influence in return, and the domination of developer funding to the major political
parties clearly tips the balance against residential and environmental amenity.

In the recent election I returned a $2,000 donation because I had suspicions it had potentially come from someone with developer associations. I did not receive any donations from developers and went to great lengths before and during the campaign to ensure that I did not accept any donations—financial or in kind—from developers.

I strongly support a motion proposed for the local government association conference next week, by Mayor of Manly, Peter McDonald, my former independent colleague in State Parliament, for a Charter of Political Reform that deals with open and accountable reporting of election funding.

We need to improve transparency and accountability in campaign funding and political donations.