Clean up our election laws now

One area that does cause concern is the secret donation of large sums of money to political parties. This raises the possibility of influence-buying. Indeed, in NSW crooks associated with the Wollongong Council were also members of Labor and solicited donations for favourable planning decisions. Courageous local MP Jennie George had warned against their bodgie activities for years.

In 1984 the Hawke government brought in laws that required all donations to political parties, whether by individuals, companies or organisations such as trade unions, to be declared to the public. At the same time, public funding was made available to political parties so that they would not be solely dependent on donations. Over the last 25 years the principal beneficiary of this public funding of election campaigns has been the Green’s political party, which relies largely on tax payer subsidies for its ongoing operations.
In 2004 the previous government gained control of the Senate, and one of the first things they did was to change the laws on political donations. They lifted the disclosure threshold from $1,500 to more than $10,000 and increased tax deductibility
This allowed large amounts of money to be donated to political parties without being disclosed. It was possible to make separate donations to each of the eight state and territory divisions of the Liberal Party, which meant that donations of up to $80,000 could be made without disclosure.

Labor legislated to clean up the donations law and the House of Representatives passed the legislation which would reduce the disclosure threshold from more than $10,000 to $1,000. Under the legislation people who donate to political parties during election campaigns would be required to report the donation within eight weeks of polling day. It will close the loophole which allows people to donate to each state branch of a political party and claim each donation as a separate donation.

The Liberals also made other changes when they controlled the Senate, requiring people to produce photo ID when enrolling to vote, or when casting a provisional vote at elections. Young people were affected when they abolished the seven-day “period of grace” during which people could enrol to vote or change their enrolment details after an election was called. All this was designed to make it harder for groups of people to vote.  Eight to nine hundred people per seat (mainly those who moved within the electorate) lost their vote at the 2007 poll as a result of this bodgie change.

When we were in opposition, and Labor said we would reverse these moves to disenfranchise people.  Leading election experts such as Malcolm Mackerras and Professor Brian Costar agreed with us that these laws were partisan and unfair, and bad for our democracy. So no-one can say we don’t have a mandate for our legislation. That’s why the Coalition, led by Senator Ronaldson on this issue, - blocking transparency (donations) and enfranchisement (restoring provisional voting) is engaged in an outrageous anti-democratic manoeuvre.

There is no evidence at all that Australia has a problem with fraudulent enrolments, which was their excuse for these changes.  In the six electoral contests between 1990 and 2001 (including the 1999 Referendum) approximately 12 million voted each time. Only 72 cases of electoral fraud were established during that period.  This is one fraud per million votes. We have a healthy electoral system and we should make it as easy as possible for Australians to enrol and to vote – particularly since we have compulsory voting.

Having blocked our bill once in the Senate, the Coalition at least in its recent Turnbull incarnation had a unity ticket with the Greens Political Party to ban all donations to parties, from individuals and organisations! This would leave political parties totally dependent on public funding and cost the taxpayer $500 million dollars to fund all political parties, over a 3 year cycle. Senator Ronaldson and Bob Brown think the taxpayer should have to foot the bill for the operation of their political parties, not only election campaigning.  If tax payers were to foot the bill for their scheme to fund all political parties at election time and through the three year parliamentary cycle, it would costs hundreds of millions of dollars.

Part of the democratic surge in the United States that got President Obama elected saw hundreds of thousands of people voluntarily donate. Sorry Michael and Bob but in all democracies voluntary donations are an essential part of our system. What’s important is that all significant donations and the identity of the contributors are disclosed.  Anonymous and overseas donations would be banned under Labor’s proposals.  All donations would need to be reported in a more public and timely manner. 

Senator Ronaldson predictably attacks union support for Labor.  Were he serious, Ronaldson and the Coalition would wean themselves off contributions from outside players and make it clear to the public who they take money from. If, for example, the Liberals take money from tobacco companies (as they do), the public has a right to know that.

Tony Abbott should get Senator Ronaldson to drop his absurd unity ticket with the Green political party. If the Opposition want any democratic kudos they should vote in the Senate, to uphold the rights of the tens of thousands of people they disenfranchised at the last election. And while your at it Tony, just pass the legislation on donations that is stalled in the Senate. It would deodorise all political parties of the stink of potential corruption. 

- Member for Melbourne Ports, Michael Danby, has served on the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) since he was first elected to Parliament in 1998