Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Cities and Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Annual Disclosure Equality) Bill 2021. I want to advise the House that Labor will be supporting this bill, which will align the donations disclosure obligations of serving parliamentarians with those that apply to candidates and political parties. It will also extend the ban on foreign donations that applies to parties, candidates and political campaigners to senators and to members of the House of Representatives. Currently there is an inconsistency in the way the funding and disclosure framework operates with respect to parliamentarians once they have been elected. Candidates for an election are unable to accept foreign donations and are required to submit a return to the Australian Electoral Commission detailing the donations and electoral expenditure. This obligation ceases 30 days after the return of the writs. This means that anyone in this place who receives donations personally during their term in parliament is not currently required to disclose them. It also means that there is a loophole which would allow serving parliamentarians to accept donations from foreign sources. This bill will close that loophole. Given the prohibition on parties and candidates accepting foreign donations, I wouldn't expect that anyone in this place would take gifts from foreign sources, because that would go against the spirit of the donations reforms that were enacted in 2018.

It was Labor who successfully fought for a ban on foreign donations to be included in the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Act 2018, because we knew, Mr Deputy Speaker Mitchell, and I know you knew, that we had to act to protect our democracy from foreign interference. But this government, the Morrison-Joyce government as it now is, had to be dragged kicking and screaming into banning them. It took two years for the government to act after Labor introduced our own bill to protect our democracy. Because of the reforms Labor achieved in 2018, registered political parties, candidates, Senate groups and political campaigners, those organisations who incur at least $500,000 of electoral expenditure in a year, are unable to accept donations of over $100 from foreign sources, if they are intended to be used for electoral expenditure, or any foreign donations over $1,000 at all.

There are also important anticircumvention measures in place to stop people getting around these bans, and it is right that this ban be extended to elected members of this place. The prohibition on accepting foreign donations shouldn't stop 30 days after a candidate is elected. The ban will apply to gifts received by sitting parliamentarians from the commencement of this legislation. The other change this bill makes in relation to foreign donations is to prohibit candidates from accepting them from six months prior to either the date of their nomination or the date they announce their candidacy—whichever is earlier. This will enhance the integrity of our democratic processes and put candidates on a level playing field with elected representatives.

This bill will further align the obligations of parliamentarians with those of political parties by requiring them to provide an annual return to the Australian Electoral Commission detailing political donations they've personally received which are over the disclosure threshold. Most donations received by parliamentarians who belong to political parties would be received on their behalf by that political party.

The party must then, of course, disclose the detail of the donation each year to the Australian Electoral Commission.

However, there is currently no obligation on parliamentarians to disclose donations personally received. That means donations received by parliamentarians who are not members of political parties are not required to be disclosed. This isn't right, and it will be corrected by this bill. Parliamentarians who do not personally receive donations will not be required to provide a return to the AEC. Annual returns will need to include the total value of all gifts received by the parliamentarian during the year; the total number of persons who made gifts; and, for each gift over the disclosure threshold—which is currently $14,500—the value of each gift, the date on which each gift was made, and the name and address of each donor. A parliamentarian's return must be provided within 20 weeks of the end of the financial year.

The bill requires parliamentarians to provide an annual return in relation to each financial year from 2020-21, where the gifts were made before, on or after the commencement of this bill, once enacted into law—that is, the bill will have retrospective application in relation to gifts received personally by parliamentarians during the 2020-21 financial year. Returns for the 2020-21 financial year will need to be provided within 30 days of the act's commencement. Annual returns will be published on the AEC's website.

Candidates will also be required to disclose donations they personally received during the period of six months prior to the date of their nomination or six months prior to the date of them announcing their candidacy, whichever is earlier. A similar position will apply to Senate groups, who will be taken to have begun being a group in an election six months before the day members apply to be grouped on the Senate ballot paper; this will continue until 30 days after polling day. These changes will substantially improve transparency and, along with the ban on foreign donations, will put candidates and elected representatives on a level playing field.

Donors are already required to provide an annual return setting out donations made to political parties or political campaigners which total more than the disclosure threshold, but under this bill the requirement will extend to gifts made for federal purposes to the same parliamentarian or candidate if the total value of those gifts exceeded the disclosure threshold. Donors will also be required to disclose gifts they receive in excess of the disclosure threshold if the gifts were then used wholly or partly to provide a gift to a member, senator or candidate. This is another important step to improve the transparency of our electoral system, allowing voters to better understand the actions of Australia's biggest electoral donors.

But, of course, there is so much more to be done. If this government really wanted to improve transparency in our politics, it would be supporting Labor proposals of lowering the donations disclosure threshold from the current $14,500 to a fixed $1,000 and also requiring donations to be disclosed within seven days so people really know who is donating to political parties and parliamentarians. This simple change would mean voters have this information when they go to cast their ballot and would not have to wait up to 19 months to find out who is funding political parties, as they do at present. There are other reforms that would enhance our democracy and that the government should be committing to, and accordingly I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes that the explanatory memorandum states that the bill's intention is to increase transparency of political donations; and

(2) notes that transparency of donations and the integrity of Australia's electoral system would be further strengthened by:

(a) lowering the disclosure threshold from the current $14,500 to a fixed $1,000 so political donations are transparent for all to see;

(b) requiring real time disclosure of political donations;

(c) reforming electoral expenditure laws;

(d) providing more resources to the AEC to increase enrolment and turnout;

(e) addressing the spread of dangerous misinformation and disinformation;

(f) legislating for a powerful and independent National Anti-Corruption Commission;

(g) making laws to prevent governments from pork-barrelling in marginal held seats; and

(h) requiring parliamentarians to disclose secret donations; and

(3) calls on the Government to implement these electoral integrity measures that would make a real difference to improving public confidence in our democracy".

But, despite Labor's ongoing calls for increased transparency, the government has not taken any action on real-time disclosure or lower donations disclosure thresholds.

Labor is proud to have continuously fought for greater transparency of political donations. I want to acknowledge, in particular, the work in this regard by Senator Farrell, who has been a relentless advocate for the reforms that would deliver the democracy and electoral systems that Australians deserve.

He is building on a very strong legacy—a very strong Labor legacy, I might add. It was Labor, under Prime Minister Bob Hawke, that was first to introduce a donations disclosure regime back in 1983. The disclosure threshold was then set at a fixed $1,000, but in 2006 the Liberal government led by John Howard increased the threshold to $10,000 and linked it to CPI because it wanted to hide donations it was then receiving. This, sadly, has continued and been exacerbated because indexation has caused the threshold to blow out to a staggering $14,500. Any donations received below that amount do not have to be disclosed. This is unacceptable and it is something Labor is committed to changing in government.

On the other hand, instead of addressing this pressing issue, in the dying weeks of the parliamentary term the government has finally decided to pursue some form of electoral reform with this and a number of other bills. We do welcome the reforms contained in this bill, despite it being a late and imperfect attempt at increased transparency. It's better late than never. But this cannot end our collective effort to increase the standards of democracy, transparency and accountability.

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