Posted: Apr 15, 2012 12:54 pm
Mojzu wrote:That's still a significant cut in funding for Labour. And it's slightly encouraging that Miliband is making proposals that would be against Labour's self interest (even if it hits other parties disproportionately) and in the interest of democratic integrity, as it's something political parties struggle to do. There's been a long history from all parties of gerrymandering in some way or another, it's nice to see a politician (at least in words) try to pull it back in the opposite direction a little.
That said I think that these rules should also apply to union member donations, which should be entirely voluntary and opt-in, but it's a step in the right direction, if only a small one at this stage.
It could be an entirely empty political play if the other lot stand to lose out more. This sort of political posturing goes on all the time here in Australia. We often have major pollies calling for cuts in their salaries or superannuation or entitlements. But they never go through, of course. The strange one we had recently was the Labour government announcing a 3 month paid maternity allowance for mother. Guaranteed to be a winner, particularly because the opposition hate worker entitlements and are always working to strip them back. But what happened? The opposition came out with a 6 month maternity allowance counter-policy. Strange stuff. [/derail]