Election data a reminder that Albanese government must regulate money in politics
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) will release data on 1 February revealing how much political parties and third parties spent in the 2022 Federal election, and the donations used to fund those campaigns.
The Albanese Government was elected on its promise to ‘change the way we do politics in Australia’, but the Human Rights Law Centre said that to truly change the status quo, the Labor government must go further than its existing commitments.
Alice Drury, Acting Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre:
“Every year on 1 February, we learn the names of the millionaire donors who are buying influence over Australian politicians. Many more millions in financial contributions are obscured from public view entirely. This situation is all perfectly legal under federal electoral laws, which are the weakest in the country.
“The Albanese Government needs to hold true to its promise to ‘change the way we do politics in Australia’. We need greater transparency, of course – but that alone won’t change our politics. We also need caps on election spending and bans on large political donations altogether, as some states have done.
“A strong and healthy democracy serves the best interests of people, communities, and our planet. But when political donations are revealed each year, we’re reminded that big harmful industries are lurking in the halls of Australian parliament, donating big and calling the shots. This includes industries like tobacco, gambling and fossil fuels, which harm millions of Australians every year.
“All parliamentarians who are serious about political integrity should support these reforms.”
Background
The Joint Standing Committee of Electoral Matters announced on 29 August 2022 that it was investigating electoral reform as part of its inquiry into conduct at the 2022 Federal Election. Most relevantly to the AEC data release, the terms of reference for the inquiry includes:
reforms to political donation laws, particularly the applicability of 'real-time' disclosure and a reduction of the disclosure threshold to a fixed $1,000; and
potential reforms to funding of elections, particularly regarding electoral expenditure caps and public funding of parties and candidates.
Notably, the terms of reference did not include another key feature of electoral law regulation that is becoming commonplace at state level: bans on large political donations altogether.
The Human Rights Law Centre and the #OurDemocracy campaign both made submissions supporting three key reforms:
To improve transparency of political donations and election spending through lowering the disclosure threshold, requiring real time disclosure, and closing loopholes that allow millions in financial contributions to go undisclosed;
Our federal disclosure laws are so full of holes that we only know a fraction of the total financial contributions big industries are making to our elected representatives. Research by the Centre for Public Integrity revealed that almost $1.5 billion dollars in secret contributions has flowed to federal political parties since FY1999 (The Centre for Public Integrity, Shining light on political finance for the next federal election, Briefing Paper (February 2021), 1.).
2. To cap election spending;
Two-thirds of European countries limit the amount a candidate can spend on an election campaign22 and overseas jurisdictions most similar to Australia – the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand – all cap election spending. The Federal Government is also lagging behind Australian states and territories: Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT and Tasmania’s upper house all have election spending caps.
3. To ban large political donations altogether.
The laws that govern donations to federal politicians are the weakest in the country. In every single state donations of just a couple of thousand dollars need to be disclosed regularly, and in Queensland, Victoria and NSW, large donations to political parties (e.g. over $6,000) are prohibited altogether.
For more background, see the Human Rights Law Centre’s submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters here
And the major report, Selling Out: How powerful industries corrupt our democracy, here
Media contact:
Thomas Feng, Media and Communications Manager, 0431 285 275, thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au