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Political donations due for reform overhaul, HRLC says
Human rights lawyers have appeared before a parliamentary committee to seek critical reforms around political donations laws to restrict the opportunity for illegal bribes while protecting small community groups from similar and unintended confinements.
Naomi Neilson
The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) and Australian Conservation Foundation made a case for capping political donations and providing greater transparency to the Senate and public administration committee which is reviewing the Commonwealth Electoral Development (Donation Reform and Other Measures) Bill 2020.
HRLC senior lawyer Alice Drury said Australians should be able to trust that the federal government is “putting the health of people and our planet at the heart of the decisions” which shape society and the economy, rather than leaning decisions towards donors.
“The current laws allow for wealthy people to make big political decisions in secret and create a real risk of corruption and conflict of interests,” Ms Drury said, adding that the HRLC has called on the committee to support reforms for greater transparency.
“We urgently need limits on political donations and election spends, because our ability to be heard on issues that matter shouldn’t depend on the size of your bank balance.”
2019 saw over $100 million from unidentified sources donated to major political parties and politicians. The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Jolene Elberth said the new reforms would shine a light on the “dark money flowing into the political system”.
In its submissions, HRLC set out the “sliding scale of influence” that donors would hold over politicians. At the lower end, a sizeable donation could give a donor access to the political parties that ordinary Australians wouldn’t. A step up and donors get access to what the High Court has described as a “subtle kind of corruption” where office holders will decide issues “not on the merits” but according to the wishes of their major donors.
At the far end is the relatively rare “quid pro quo” corruption – or illegal bribes – where politicians explicitly make promises in exchange for a sizable political donation.
“The ever-increasing costs of election campaigns put pressures on politicians to keep big donors happy and current laws effectively back political inequality into democracy,” HRLC said, adding that it would be ideal that the federal government follows NSW and Queensland in capping donations, rendering transparency much less crucial.
Law reform in this area can often have “unintended and significant” adverse effects on small grassroots community groups and charities that are advocating either for or with a political decision. The compliance burden imposed by complex laws could effectively exclude them from advocating or impose significant consequences for doing so.
“Community groups and charities are vital contributors to election debates and should be protected by burdensome laws, not silenced by them,” HRLC wrote.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
