Big money continues to corrupt our democracy and prioritise private interests over the public interest.
To remove the influence of big money on politics, the Greens have consistently advocated for strict donations caps and bans on donations from damaging industries, and for election spending caps. We have also advocated for a rigorous real-time disclosure regime for a broader range of political donations, to improve accountability and transparency of campaign funding.
The Greens agree with the majority of submitters to this inquiry who support lowering the donation disclosure threshold to $1,000. This is consistent with recommendations made by a number of previous parliamentary inquiries and the threshold applying in a number of Australian jurisdictions. We also support the counterpart Bill introduced by Rebekha Sharkie MP, the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Real Time Disclosure of Political Donations) Bill 2019, to make such disclosures timely.
However, we consider that the Bill (and the earlier Bill) does not go far enough in addressing the key risks associated with the corrupting influence of political donations. Many submissions shared the view that the Bill is a necessary, but unambitious, step towards political donations reforms.
In particular, the Bill:
does not affect membership subscriptions or attendance at fundraising events; and
does not impose any restrictions on the source of political donations or the total amount that can be donated.
The Bill improves transparency measures in relation to donations, but does not address the bigger issue of the political influence of those making donations. While transparency will provide the public with more information about this influence, it will not remove the influence.
We also acknowledge concerns raised by submitters regarding administrative costs and the impacts on third parties.
Despite these issues, it remains essential that improvements to transparency proceed. We believe that deficiencies in the Bill can be rectified through amendments, and do not provide a basis for recommending that the Bill not be passed.
Definition of gifts
Under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, “gift” expressly excludes subscription and membership fees, levies and attendance fees at fundraising events. As identified in the submissions from the Human Rights Law Centre, GetUp and Andrew Wilkie MP, the exclusion of these fees effectively hides a significant source of campaign income for many political parties and political campaigners.
Any lowering of the disclosure threshold should be accompanied by an extension of the definition of “gift”.
RECOMMENDATION 1:
Amend the definition of 'gift' under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to membership subscriptions and payments for attendance at events and fundraisers hosted by candidates, political parties and associated entities.
Impact on third parties and political campaigners
Professor Graeme Orr and the Human Rights Law Centre point out that lowering the disclosure threshold would mean that any person or entity who incurred more than $1,000 on electoral expenditure would become subject to third party reporting obligations (s.314AEB). Given the broad definition of electoral expenditure, this could result in significant additional reporting obligations on small organisations seeking to advocate for policy issues in election periods.
The Greens support the amendment proposed by Professor Orr and the HLRC to “decouple” the disclosure threshold from the electoral expenditure threshold relied on in the definition of “third party”.
RECOMMENDATION 2:
Amend the definition of ‘third party’ in s.287 to refer to an ‘electoral expenditure threshold’, rather than the disclosure threshold, for triggering when organisations become subject to reporting obligations.
Administrative burdens
Costs to smaller parties
The submissions from Hon Bob Katter MP and the Shooters and Fishers Party raise concerns that changes to the disclosure threshold will disadvantage small parties, both in terms of administrative costs and discouraging donations.
While acknowledging this concern, it is important to note that the Bill has been proposed by Centre Alliance and is supported by independent MP, Andrew Wilkie MP, both of whom will be subject to the disadvantages described by Katter and the Shooters and Fishers Party.
On balance, the significant advantages to democracy of improved transparency around campaign funding outweigh the disadvantages. However, the Greens encourage further examination of public funding models to facilitate smaller parties and independent candidates in campaigning.
Restrictions on donations
The Bill improves transparency measures in relation to donations, but does not address the bigger issue of the political influence of those making donations. While transparency will provide the public with more information about this influence, it will not remove the influence.
We support the recommendations made by the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into the Political Influence of Donations to ban all donations from developers, banks, mining companies and the tobacco, liquor, gambling, defence and pharmaceutical industries to political parties, candidates and associated entities, and to limit all other political donations to $3,000 per electoral cycle.
The Greens Commonwealth Electoral (Capping Donations) Amendment Bill 2020 will propose amendments in line with these recommendations.
RECOMMENDATION 3:
Amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to:
introduce a cap on donations to political parties, candidates and associated entities to a cumulative maximum value of $3,000 per parliamentary term; and
introduce a ban on donations from developers, banks, mining companies and the tobacco, liquor, gambling, defence and pharmaceutical industries to political parties, candidates and associated entities.
Resources to support implementation
The Greens support further efforts to ensure that campaign financing disclosures are accessible, understandable and able to be effectively interrogated. Any reforms to the disclosure obligations must be supported by administrative practices within the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to facilitate this.
The AEC should also be given powers to investigate disclosures and take enforcement action in relation to breaches.
Submissions from the Electoral Commission of Queensland and the AEC note the additional administrative and compliance costs associated with changes to disclosure rules. While this is not a reason to oppose the changes, it is essential that sufficient resources are allocated to the AEC to allow the changes proposed by the Bill to be effectively implemented.
RECOMMENDATION 4:
Revise annual return forms to require more detailed reporting, including specific classifications for each type of income.
RECOMMENDATION 5:
Ensure that the presentation of political finance data on the AEC website provides greater accessibility and functionality of files to facilitate public research and investigation.
RECOMMENDATION 6:
Increase the regulatory powers of the AEC to monitor and enforce compliance with the political funding and disclosure regime, including aggregation of donations below the disclosure threshold.
RECOMMENDATION 7:
Ensure AEC funding is adequate to allow implementation of the above recommendations.
Senator Larissa Waters
Member