27 August 2019

Press release

Racing billionaire donation to National shows need for donation reform in New Zealand

News that previous National Trade Minister Todd McClay facilitated a large donation from racing industry billionaire Lin Lang demonstrates the need for donation reform in New Zealand.

“This is deeply alarming and highlights why we need stronger and more transparent political donation laws”, says Green Party Electoral spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman.

“This is another example of powerful vested interests tipping big money into the coffers of the National Party. This can be dangerous and we’ve seen this play out badly for democracy globally.

“We should cap individual donations to $35000, ban overseas donations, and reduce the anonymity threshold to $1000 so that we can see who is donating to political parties.

“I will be putting those changes to political donations in Aotearoa via an SOP to the Government’s Electoral Amendment Bill currently before the House.

“We saw this risk of interference with America’s gun lobbyists in Australian politics, and in other jurisdictions big oil donations have hampered action on climate change.

“We are rightly proud of New Zealand’s open and strong democratic system, but we are not immune from corruption. With further reform, our system could be even more transparent and easier to access for all New Zealanders.”

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