Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is exactly right. The member for Indi likes to hide these things. We have seen that in the past. These matters are critical for informing the Australian community. This is about the transparency of our democratic institutions. We need these matters to be resolved in a timely way. It is for these reasons that the government has decided to reintroduce this bill. We sought to change these arrangements in the last parliament. We still stand by the need for these reforms. We will continue to pursue them, as we said we would. We entered into arrangements with the Greens and the Independents and in doing so indicated that we would continue to pursue these matters. And we will.

The federal government also does not want to see foreign companies having political sway on Australian democratic institutions. For that reason we believe that outside influences should not be allowed to inform our democratic processes. We will be moving to ensure that that cannot happen. This bill will also make it unlawful for a third party to receive any gifts from foreign governments. That is important, because we do not want to see a situation in which foreign governments make contributions to business that then in turn pass on those gifts or donations to political parties. That would be inappropriate. We are very proud to be putting in place measures to ensure that that does not happen. I am proud to be a member voting for this legislation. I encourage the Liberal Party to support it.

Previously, anonymous gifts of up to $11,500 could be made. This is far too much. This bill will reduce this amount to $50, a sum of money that will see far more transparency. This amount will certainly help create transparency when it comes to gifts to political parties. It is something that I support. The $50 threshold will enable practical measures to be taken to ensure that local branch members are clear and transparent with the Australian community and the Australian Electoral Commission without overly frustrating them by forcing them to fill in excessive paperwork when, for example, conducting a local branch raffle, which is something that Labor Party branches conduct on a regular basis. For that reason, I support the $50 threshold. It is a practical sum. It is not anywhere near the outrageous current sum of $11,500. I believe that these reforms will make sure that our democracy stays open to ideas and that donations made to political parties are transparent so that people can follow who has made what donations to what parties. These reforms will not overcomplicate the donation process. They will ensure that we protect our democratic institutions.

Electoral funding is important and it is important that it be tied to electoral expenditure. This proposed reform will aim to address the possibility that political parties or candidates may receive a windfall from payments of election funding. Again, I think we do need to be mindful of that. The proposed reforms will mean that a candidate will receive the lesser amount of either the electoral expenditure that was incurred in an election campaign or the amount awarded per vote. The amount for each vote will not be changed.

This bill will also introduce a range of new offences under the reporting and disclosure regime that we currently have in place. It will also put in place across the board increases in penalties for breaches of the Electoral Act. Again, this will ensure that our electoral system maintains its integrity and that appropriate penalties are put in place. This is critical to maintaining our democratic institutions.

This bill has been around for some time, both in the last parliament and this parliament. I encourage all political parties to support this legislation. These are necessary fixes to ensure that we do have transparency and accountability. I would hope that the Liberal Party sees sense and works with this government to ensure that we do have a transparent accountability framework with respect to electoral matters.

The time I have left is now limited, but I urge all parties, all members of this House and those in the other place to support this legislation, because it is important that we do have accountability and transparency in our Electoral Act.

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