Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The question of the donations threshold is one that has a long and special history to those of us on this side of the House. It was the Hawke government in 1983 that first introduced laws requiring donations to a political party exceeding $1,000 to be disclosed. Labor opposed the decision of the Howard government in 2006 to increase the disclosure threshold to $10,000 indexed to CPI, which has taken it to the $13,800 it is today. Indeed, I would note the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters back in 2011, which recommended reducing the disclosure thresholds on donations to $1,000 not indexed.

Labor believes that donations over $1,000 should be disclosed. It is the practice that we maintain as a political party. But Labor will not be supporting this amendment because it is important, in making the reform, to ensure that there is significant consultation with the Australian Electoral Commission and, indeed, with charities and not-for-profits. It has been Labor that has stood shoulder to shoulder with charities and not-for-profits throughout this debate, making sure they are not impeded by the way in which we crack down on foreign donations. Real-time disclosure may be straightforward for a large entity, but real-time disclosure may not be feasible for a small entity. We on this side of the House will not support changes which would see small entities incurring significant fines for failing to comply with the law. We want to work with those charities and not-for-profits, as we've done through this process.

I'd say to the member for Mayo that we have made clear to her colleague Senator Griff in the other place that we will work with her party, should we be fortunate enough to win government, to see these two things happen: to move to improving transparency and to disclose donations over $1,000. But we must do it in consultation with the AEC. We must do it in a way that doesn't hurt charities. And anyone who has been watching this debate over the last year will have seen how badly hurt charities and not-for-profits are. To now support this amendment would risk hurting the very same charities and not-for-profits that Labor have stood up for over the course of the last year. We will not see that happen. We support the reducing of the disclosure threshold, we support greater transparency but, because we also support charities and not-for-profits, we cannot support this ill-considered amendment at this time.

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