Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service and Integrity) Share this | Hansard source

in reply—I thank all those who have contributed to the debate on the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2010. It seeks to improve our political donations disclosure and election funding arrangements. The measures contained in this bill are largely the same as those that were first introduced into the parliament in May 2008 and again in March 2009. The 2008 bill was considered by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in its October 2008 advisory report and the government accepted the suggested amendments to that first bill and they were then included in the 2009 version of the bill. Any further delays to the passage of the measures contained in the bill will result in any changes being delayed until July 2012 due to the lead times involved in establishing reporting systems and the need to commence these measures at the start of a financial year.

Let me once again summarise the key measures contained in this bill. The first group of measures in the bill concerns the disclosure threshold and reporting periods. This bill would reduce the disclosure threshold from the current CPI indexed amount of $11,500 to a non-indexed amount of $1,000. This would restore public scrutiny to donations of this size. Transparency in the funding and disclosure regime would be improved by requiring participants in the electoral process to report every six months, rather than every 12 months.

The Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2010 would also provide consistency by reducing the deadline when the participants in the political process have to lodge disclosure returns with the Australian Electoral Commission to a consistent period of eight weeks. This measure would replace the haphazard deadlines currently in the Commonwealth Electoral Act which include 15, 16 or 20 weeks depending on the person or the entity. To ensure that the new $1,000 disclosure threshold is not avoided by a person giving multiple amounts below the threshold to various branches or divisions of the same political party, the bill treats donations to different branches of a political party as if the donations were given to the same political party or entity.

The second group of measures in the bill relates to the source of certain donations. Specifically, the bill prohibits the receipt of a gift of foreign property. This would remove the perception of foreign donations being able to be used to purchase influence over political decisions. Also, registered political parties, candidates or members of groups will not be permitted to receive anonymous gifts so as to circumvent the reporting obligations. Only anonymous donations of $50 or less which have been received at a general public event, such as a fete, or at a private event will be permitted. Similar restrictions would also apply to third parties and their use of anonymous donations for political expenditure. Third parties that are required to lodge disclosure returns would only be able to use anonymous donations of $50 or less for political expenditure where those donations have been received at a general public activity or at a private event. These measures to restrict anonymous donations would help to end the secrecy around donations.

Finally, the bill seeks to prevent the possibility that some candidates and other groups may obtain a windfall payment of election funding by tying electoral funding to the actual electoral expenditure incurred. The government believes that this bill is an important step in delivering a more transparent and accountable electoral system for Australia. The government remains committed to improving the election funding and disclosure regime to maintain the integrity of the electoral process and to help ensure that the election campaign is transparent and fair. The measures contained in the bill are the first step in achieving such an outcome. I commend the bill to the House.

Question put:

That this bill be now read a second time.

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