David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Xenophon, for that contribution. I am tempted to say there is good news and there is bad news. The good news is I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments in your remarks and the bad news is that I am not supporting the amendment you have moved today. The reason for the bad news is a very cogent one, you will be pleased to know. That is that there is a government bill before this Senate that proposes to meet several of the concerns you highlighted here this afternoon.

The Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2010 has been before the Senate since 17 November 2010. The government remains committed to that bill, which contains a number of fundamental changes to the funding and disclosure requirements contained in the Electoral Act. In particular, the amendments to the Electoral Act contained in that bill will reduce the disclosure threshold from more than $10,000. As you know, it is indexed to the consumer price index annually. I understand it will be $12,100 in the next financial year. Our legislation would change that to $1,000 non-indexed per annum. The bill would require people who make gifts at or above the threshold to candidates and members of groups during the election disclosure period to furnish a return within eight weeks after polling day. Agents of candidates and groups have a similar time frame to furnish a return in relation to gifts received during the disclosure period.

The bill would require people who make gifts, agents of registered political parties, the financial controller of an associated entity or people who fall within the relevant provisions who have incurred political expenditure to furnish a return within eight weeks after 31 December and 30 June each year. That would have the practical effect of changing the reporting period from 12 months to every six months and would do quite a deal to change the time frame that Senator Xenophon spoke to just a moment ago. It would prevent donation splitting by ensuring that, for the purposes of the $1,000 disclosure threshold, related political parties were treated as the one entity. It would make unlawful the receipt of a gift of foreign property by political parties, candidates and members of a Senate group. It would also be unlawful in some situations for associated entities and people incurring political expenditure to receive a gift of foreign property. It would extend the ban on anonymous gifts to encompass all anonymous gifts except where the gift is $50 or less and received at a general public activity or a private event as defined in the bill. It would tie public election funding to reported and verified electoral expenditure. It would provide for the recovery of anonymous gifts of foreign property that are not returned and undisclosed gifts. It would introduce new offences and penalties related to the new measures and increase the penalties for existing offence provisions.

Since the introduction of this 2010 bill, the government has also received two reports from the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters which also recommend significant change to the funding and disclosure requirements of the Electoral Act. The first of these reports of November 2011 entitled 'Report on the funding of political parties in election campaigns' contains 30 recommendations for changes in this particular area. The second JSCEM report of September 2012 entitled 'Review of the AEC analysis of the Fair Work Australia report on the HSU' contains 13 recommendations in response to the 17 recommendations that were made by the AEC to the Special Minister of State in May 2012.

As senators will appreciate, changes to the funding and disclosure provisions of the Electoral Act, while controversial, have not dissuaded this government from actively seeking to negotiate a response to those JSCEM reports that will guarantee lasting reforms in this area and which can be implemented in a practicable way to the benefit of all stakeholders. As the government's negotiations and consideration of these matters is well advanced, with plans already announced for the legislation, it would be premature for us to agree to the amendment proposed by Senator Xenophon without addressing the whole of the political funding and disclosure scheme. As I said at the outset, Senator Xenophon, the good news is the government wholeheartedly agrees with the aims, objectives and the values that drive them. I guess in due course I will commend the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2010 to you and to the Senate.