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- 4 September 2002
Consideration of Urgent Motions
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Page: 4591
World Cup Soccer Bid
Mr TRIPODI (Fairfield) [3.45 p.m.]: This matter is urgent because the Australian soccer community is still waiting for the Federal Government to come on board and support the bid for the 2014 World Cup. We must prepare ourselves. Australia has demonstrated its ability to host major events. The FIFA World Cup, the only jewel that is left, is one that we should pursue. It is urgent that we begin to stake our claim for the 2014 World Cup game.
Labor Party Fundraising
Mr O'FARRELL (Ku-ring-gai) [3.46 p.m.]: My motion is urgent because on 20 September the State Australian Labor Party is holding an $11,000 a head fundraiser in support of its re-election effort. My motion is urgent because next month Eric Roozendaal, the General Secretary of the New South Wales Labor Party, has to furnish another return to the Australian Electoral Commission. My motion is urgent because if that return does not reveal the identities of donors to the State ALP, the people of this State will go to the election without knowing whose money is being used to support the re-election of Government members.
Mr Tripodi: What about Yabsley?
Mr O'FARRELL: I will respond to the interjection of the honourable member for Fairfield. The millennium forum, the vehicle used by the Liberal Party to raise corporate funds, has from the day of its inception revealed every donor. Every sponsored donor is listed on its letterhead. That is the difference between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party. Members of the Labor Party do not disclose their donors, but members of the Liberal Party do.
Mr Anderson: Point of order: The honourable member for Ku-ring-gai, who has already used two minutes of his debating time, has not yet addressed the matter of urgency. He is talking about everything and anything other than why his matter is more urgent than the matter referred to by the honourable member for Fairfield. I ask you to bring him back to debating why his motion is urgent.
Mr SPEAKER : Order! Obviously the honourable member for Ku-ring-gai will now address the reasons why his motion should have priority.
Mr O'FARRELL: My matter is urgent because the Labor Party is about to host a series of fundraising lunches costing $11,000 a table, which is not a small amount. There is no guarantee that those donors will be disclosed. This week we saw the results of non-disclosure by Eddie Obeid and the backbench members who support him. The people of this State deserve to know-
Mr Whelan: Point of order: The honourable member is using his five minutes to try to defame as many people as he possibly can. Standing orders provide that honourable members must put forward cogent arguments as to why their motions are urgent. The standing orders do not permit an honourable member to debate the substance of a motion. The honourable member cannot defame anybody in this Chamber or any member of the public other than by way of substantive motion. The honourable member clearly is in breach of standing orders. I ask you to direct the honourable member to confine himself to the terms and conditions of standing orders. The honourable member should not use this motion as a veiled attempt to try to defame members of the community.
Mr-SPEAKER : Order! The Leader of the House has made his point. The honourable member for Ku-ring-gai will address the issue before the House in the proper manner.
Mr O'FARRELL: For the benefit of Independent members-who are probably the only fair-minded people in the Chamber on these sorts of issues-in three sitting days time a State ALP fundraiser will be held. In six sitting days time the general secretary of the Labor Party is required to furnish a return to the Australian Electoral Commission. Unless that return reveals the people who are buying the $11,000 tables at the fundraisers, the people of this State will go to the next election without knowing who are the friends of the Labor Party and they will not know which of Eddie's mates legitimately donates money to the Labor Party. What does the Labor Party have to hide? What is so hard about telling the people who go to its fundraising events? The honourable member for Blacktown holds a fundraising event in the Parliament every year. The Parliamentary Dining Room is filled to capacity. The honourable member for Blacktown has no problems revealing who comes to his fundraising events-
\Mr-SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Ku-ring-gai would be aware that the Parliamentary Dining Room is never used for fundraising events by any member of this Parliament.
Mr O'FARRELL: The honourable member for Londonderry has held well-attended functions, and he has no problem having the attendees' names published on the board outside. But that is not the case with the Labor Party. Why not? I suspect that events held this week in the upper House reveal why not: the Labor Party is not into disclosure because it cannot cope with who its friends are.
Question-That the motion for urgent consideration of the honourable member for Fairfield be proceeded with-agreed to.
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