Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (3) and (5) together:

(3) Clause 2, page 2 (at the end of the table), add:

(5) Schedule 1, page 19 (after line 26), at the end of the Schedule, add:

Part 5—Disclosure of local expenses

Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918

55 Section 307(1)

Repeal the subsection, substitute:

(1) If no details are required to be included in a return under this Division in respect of a candidate, the return must nevertheless be lodged and must include:

(a) a statement to the effect that no gifts of a kind required to be disclosed were received; and

(b) if the candidate is:

(i) a candidate in an election of a member of the House of Representatives for a Division; and

(ii) endorsed by a registered political party in that election;

a statement of the amount of electoral expenditure incurred during the period to which the return relates by or with the authority of the registered political party (or by an associated entity connected with the party) specifically in respect of the House of Representatives election for that Division; and

(c) if the candidate is:

(i) a candidate in an election of Senators for a State or Territory; and

(ii) endorsed by a registered political party in that election;

a statement of the amount of electoral expenditure incurred during the period to which the return relates by or with the authority of the registered political party (or by an associated entity connected with the party) specifically in respect of the Senate election for that State or Territory.

As I said just now in my speech in regard to this bill, I applaud the government for endeavouring to improve transparency when it comes to electoral reform. I do wish, though, to help the minister here and help to improve this bill, because I think it can be improved. My first amendment attempted to do that.

As I pointed out to the minister in one of my meetings with him, it is common practice for candidates from major parties to lodge individual AEC returns that state they receive no money whatsoever during an election, and quite obviously this is untrue.

This is a problem because political donations come straight into party headquarters and a combined return is put forward. I think that what's really happening here is that there is a clear exploitation of a loophole to ensure that the public is left in the dark about how much money is actually spent in each electorate, and I think that's a problem. The public have that information about Independent candidates. They know exactly how much was raised and how much was spent. What this amendment seeks to do is improve transparency in our electoral act and to ensure that, for every candidate—every person who runs for election—when they put their AEC return in, it is absolutely clear how much money has been spent, by electorate.

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