The annual Register of Pecuniary Interests of Members of Parliament has been published and is available on Parliament's website here [PDF]. I haven't had time to have a serious trawl through it, but from what I've looked through, there doesn't seem to be anything surprising.
One thing that is apparent, however, is the number of MPs who directly own investment properties. This isn't unusual given their socioeconomic status, but it does raise doubts about their ability to seriously discuss the housing problem, when so many of them are directly financially benefitting from the present state of affairs.
How ironic that we now have laws requiring MPs to reveal what they personally own but we don't require them to declare who is making donations to their campaigns provided they are under $10,000...
ReplyDeletePutting the register in place as the right thing to do. Making political donations more transparent is also the right thing to do. Let's get on with it.