The Hon. AMANDA FAZIO: My question is addressed to the Leader of the Government, representing the Premier. What is the latest information on political donations?

The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: The Government is working hard to fix the laws governing political donations. As the Premier has indicated, the system of funding political campaigns has been in need of reform. We have already passed into law a range of measures to increase transparency and accountability in relation to making and accepting donations. However, bans and caps on private donations and expenditure raise complex constitutional, jurisdictional and practical issues that must be dealt with sensibly and candidly. It is important that the public debate about this issue is conducted in a forthright and honest manner. It is incumbent on those who participate in that debate not to engage in hypocrisy. We are working closely with the Federal Government in relation to proposals that have been the subject of some discussion by Senator Faulkner and we will progress those discussions in the coming months.

It is important for people who live in glasshouses not to throw stones. For some time the Greens have been focused on the issue of donations. They have made various suggestions, but principally they have put up all sorts of things that they claim to be facts and invite suspicious minds to join the dots. They suggest that there is a culture of accepting donations in return for favours. The Greens are the people who are interested in human rights, civil liberties, proof—yet they offer no proof, respect no human rights, and observe no civil liberties. They just invite the mind to wander and join the dots, make the suggestions and then cast slurs and baseless allegations.

We would expect people who make those sorts of claims to actually have some standards themselves. I have been closely observing the Greens website entitled "Democracy for $ale". For some people, it is like a home page. A search of that website for "donations" revealed some very interesting information. I urge all honourable members to acquaint themselves with this website and to search "donations", particularly the section on the Greens themselves. For example, the 2007 return shows that 15 per cent of the Greens income for their campaign—

The Hon. Charlie Lynn: Fifteen per cent?

The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: Fifteen per cent came from what is called "Intra Political party Donations", which refers to organisations such as the Marrickville Greens, the Manly Greens, the Northern Rivers Greens, and the Byron-Ballina Greens. In fact the sum of $25,000 was donated by the Marrickville Greens to the Greens campaign.

The Hon. Charlie Lynn: Twenty-five thousand dollars? That is a lot of basket weaving!

The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: No, it was suggested to me that that was derived from a fundraiser. You would have to sell a lot of raffle tickets to raise $25,000—which is the amount that was donated by a group that happens to have a substantial presence on Marrickville Council. We want to know how many people have submitted objections to Marrickville Council, how many people have development applications before Marrickville Council, and how many people had interests in matters before Marrickville Council and who made donations.

The Hon. Duncan Gay: Are you asking us to join the dots?

The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: I invite you to draw your own conclusions, but bear in mind that these are the people who are making all the allegations. What about a bit of transparency and a bit of accountability? But the website gets more interesting.

Ms Sylvia Hale: This is totally unsubstantiated.

The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: Oh, come on! Take a bit of it yourselves. This is the group that said, "No corporate donations", but guess what? While they were saying on the one hand, "No corporate donations", with the other hand they were accepting a cheque. The website shows that a group by the name of Future Forests Pty Ltd were writing out a cheque and handing it to the Greens. What interests do they have?

The Hon. AMANDA FAZIO: I ask a supplementary question: Will the Minister elucidate his answer?

The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: What environmental concerns does Future Forests Pty Ltd have? Might it be some carbon offsets or a policy position that no doubt the Greens take an interest in and have been articulating in the House? Imagine accepting a donation from a group like that! What would people think about things like that!

I raise these types of questions only because I think it is important that we have a full picture of the donations climate that people have been talking about. We should have a little bit of transparency and a bit of accountability from those who so often have been slinging mud and throwing allegations around in the House. Let us have a bit of accountability from them. It is a great website. I urge members to have a look at it.

If members have further question, they should place them on notice.