Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

The amendment that Family First are putting forward is about making sure that there is not one rule for political parties or politicians and another one for everybody else. It is about abolishing tax deductibility for political parties. The question is: why should politicians and political parties get special treatment? It looks like we will be increasing the tax deductibility from $100 to $1,500. That is a 1,500 per cent increase. We are talking about abolishing the tax deductibility for political parties.

Charities, quite rightly, enjoy tax deductibility. So they should, and Australians support that. But political parties are not charities. They are self-interested groups pushing their own agendas. Community groups like lobby groups or community groups that push political agendas are not eligible for tax deductibility—to the extent that environmental groups have been warned not to push political agendas to the extent of maybe losing their eligibility—but political parties are. This is all about filling the coffers of political parties. This is not about increasing participation. Family First believes there is hypocrisy here, and that political parties should not be treated like charities. They are self-interested groups pushing their own agendas, so Family First wants to see that political parties do not get special treatment. I urge senators to reconsider abolishing tax deductibility for political parties.