Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. The Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Lowering the Donation Disclosure Threshold) Bill 2023 relates to the issues of integrity and transparency. The member for Mayo's bills propose real-time and lower-threshold reporting and the disclosure of political donations to eliminate any grey areas or uncertainty and to ensure there is a record of every donation and gift made to every politician and political party in the country. I note that a similar call was made to ban foreign donations and introduce real-time donation disclosure in 2018 in which the Senate passed a bill to ban foreign donations of more than $100. However, both Labor and the Liberals did not support the real-time donation disclosure or caps on anonymous donations.

We know that political donations come from a range of companies—from fossil fuel, gambling and alcohol companies to unions—and often the amount increases just prior to an election. According to the AEC's 2021-22 financial disclosure, more than 75 per cent of political donations to the major parties came from just 10 individuals. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it unbelievable that over 75 per cent of the money for the last election came from just 10 individuals? How much do these companies and individuals influence our government's policies and decision-making processes at the end of the day?

When I ran as an Independent candidate for the federal seat of Fowler in 2022, I had no-one to call on to donate to my campaign, but I used my own funds—my personal funds—which we borrowed against our mortgage. We put our money where our mouth was. In addition, the community also donated, from an elderly pensioner for the amount of $100 to people who were giving me $25. I think the cut-price cost of my campaign has been well documented. Not all political donations are underhanded—in fact, most are critical for a successful campaign—but we must identify where and who the money came from and make this clear to the public. If we want to engage our communities in the political system, then we must enable transparency. Political donations have a place in our political process, but only if there is a framework in which they can exist and operate, instead of the perception that the more you donate, the more access you have to the people in the high offices.

Again, I want to emphasise that I am not against political donations. But it is important that we have rules in place that prevent political donations from manipulating politicians or political parties in favour of the views, opinions and beliefs of some of the big donors. A 2018 Grattan Institute report Who's in the room? Access and influence in Australian politics said that powerful groups have effectively 'triumphed over the public interest', and that's not in the best interest of hardworking Australians. It's all up to us here in the House to ensure the future of our democracy is not tainted by industry or corporate heavyweights throwing money around in exchange for public policy that favours their cause. Essentially the significant amendments aim to restore balance, transparency and integrity by mandating guidelines for the reporting of political gifts and donations to the Australian Electoral Commission.

The Australian public deserve honesty, and the member for Mayo's amendments call on the government to focus on building trust and to restore integrity and transparency in our political donations process. Therefore, I commend the bill to the House.

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