To the editor Editorial

Campaign funding is not bribery

I was quite thrown to read the personal view you put forward in the September issue of Company Director that corporations making political donations are engaging in pure bribery and corruption. In my view, this slap in the face of the directors you presumably represent was considerably off the mark. Our representative Government previously rejected the proposition that electoral campaigns should be funded equally by the taxpayer. If you were to remove corporate donations, political funding would take on an inherently left-wing bias, courtesy of the union movement's ongoing financial support for the ALP. The respective economic performances of Labour and Coalition Governments over recent decades would suggest this is fundamentally dangerous territory for business. All political donations made by companies in which I've had an involvement have been made with this financial balancing act in mind and, contrary to your suggestion, at no stage have I ever contemplated that a cheque drawn would later avail some hidden benefit or favour.

Further, your populist, borrowed comment that all politicians are sharks is one I have a problem with. Such unwarranted denigration of this vital role in our society can only serve to promote mediocrity in government.

Justin Birchmore FAICD Nedlands, Perth

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