Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

(1) Schedule 1, page 62 (after line 14), after item 45A, insert:

45AA After section 304

Insert:

304A Monthly disclosure of gifts and loans

Gifts

(1) If, in a calendar month, a political entity or a political campaigner receives one or more gifts, the recipient must notify the Electoral Commission, in the approved form, of the total value of those gifts within 10 days after the end of the calendar month.

(2) If, in a calendar month, a political entity or a political campaigner receives a gift whose value exceeds the disclosure threshold, the recipient must notify the Electoral Commission, in the approved form, of the following within 10 days after the end of the calendar month:

(a) the value of the gift;

(b) the name and address of the person who made the gift.

Loans

(3) If, in a calendar month, a political entity or a political campaigner receives one or more loans, the recipient must notify the Electoral Commission, in the approved form, of the total amount of those loans within 10 days after the end of the calendar month.

(4) If, in a calendar month, a political entity or a political campaigner receives a loan the amount of which exceeds the disclosure threshold, the recipient must notify the Electoral Commission, in the approved form, of the following within 10 days after the end of the calendar month:

(a) the amount of the loan;

(b) the name and address of the person who made the loan.

The amendment is quite simple. It is an amendment that was moved in the Senate on 15 November, and it is my hope that this House considers the amendment differently than the Senate did. It will require the disclosure of gifts and loans that exceed the disclosure threshold, including if the cumulative total exceeds a threshold each calendar month. The disclosure can be made within 10 days after the end of the calendar month. The value of the gift loan and the identity of the person who provides the gift loan must be disclosed to the Electoral Commission. These disclosure requirements are not audited; they are in addition to the annual disclosure requirements that are audited and can be found in section 305B. The disclosure threshold of $13,800 indexed until June 2019 is not altered in any way by the proposed amendments. As I said in my speech, if we want meaningful change in this place, and if we want the Australian community to have faith in us, I believe changes to political donations need to happen.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to 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.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Mayo for this amendment. The amendment proposes a form of regular disclosure of political donations. The government is committed to consulting all the relevant experts through the open government partnership to progress the work of open government. Civil society groups, however, as the opposition has noted, who would have to disclose under the electoral funding and disclosure scheme, would need sufficiently sophisticated internal administrative processes to deal with any new requirements of the new regime. Unlike the many other amendments that have been adopted in this bill, this proposal hasn't been subjected to consultation with regulated entities and there hasn't been consultation with the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in a thorough policy process. For those reasons, the government's committed to a considered and collaborative approach to real-time disclosure and will not be supporting the amendment. I note that this amendment was considered in the Senate and was rejected.

Question negatived.

Bill agreed to.