As anticipated, what was touted as political financing reform is just another mechanism for propping up major parties. It was a done deal with no justification, no public parliamentary scrutiny or oversight.
While the states are taking steps to reduce the obscene sums of money wasted on election campaigning, the federal government and opposition joined in rare agreement to top up the $90 million cap for major party fundraising with a myriad of newly invented benefits.
Here is how the legislation rewards our political leaders at great cost to taxpayers.
- The major parties currently receive $2.8 for every vote cast. When the new laws kick in, this almost doubles to $5 per vote. With roughly 17.9 million enrolled voters, that will add up to ~$85 million being returned to the major parties.
- Registered parties with at least one sitting member are entitled to $7,500 per quarter per House member and $3,750 per quarter per Senate member – no rationale, no explanation as to why a Senator is paid less than an MP.
- There is a donation cap of $50,000 per donor per calendar year, however, donors can give $50,000 to every federal branch of the national parties if they choose.
- The expenditure cap can add up to $90 million and this applies to every registered party, not that most will ever reach that amount. This measure is presumably to contain the likes of Clive Palmer who spent $123m to undermine Labor, not win seats.
In 2023-24 political parties collectively raised $166 million – Coalition $74 million, Labor $68 million and the Greens $17 million. In the election year 2024-25 we will not know who or how much was donated until after that election but we can be sure donations will have increased substantially on the previous election. Under the current rules, it takes at least seven months and sometimes up to 19 months for a large federal donation to be made public.
Anthony Pratt donated $1 million to Labor, and Gina Rinehart and Harry Triguboff half a million dollars each. Both major parties receive major donations from their investment arms.
Other major donations included $575,000 to the Greens from Duncan Turpie, $474,000 from Climate 200 backing independents, and $360,000 to the Greens from Lisa Barlow’s conservation trust.
The current threshold for donations to be declared is $16,900 but donors can make multiple donations under this threshold.
It’s bad enough that this is a contest of who can outspend the other, but campaign spending grows every election year, substantially funded by entities with a vested interest such as the gambling and alcohol sector. Commercial media – ads on TV, posters, flyers and other campaign material – is a godsend to the sector which will dutifully publish the lies and misinformation trotted out. And until the election is actually called, those lies cannot be challenged.
See here for our platforms: Truth in political advertising and Political party financing