John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table a ministerial statement relating to amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2008, together with proposed government amendments to the bill.

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I will not take much of the chamber’s time, and I thank the minister for providing me with a copy of this earlier on. There are just a couple of things I would like to make some comments on. The coalition welcomes the movement of the commencement date to 1 July next year. I will just read from the minister’s statement on page 1. It says, ‘This time frame will allow the Australian Electoral Commission to implement new reporting systems and provide an opportunity for them to educate and assist key stakeholders.’ I must say that this is the first indication that the current reporting standards were inadequate to deal with the change. It is, after all, just a reduction in a dollar amount, and the Australian Electoral Commission, the AEC, appeared on 26 September before the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters inquiry into the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2008—which was, I note, introduced some 4½ months prior to that—and there was no mention of any issues at that stage. I ask the minister if he would be happy at some stage to provide copies of correspondence between him and the AEC, in the context of openness and transparency, as to when they first became aware of this, which I assume was only fairly recently.

On that same page, I note that the ministerial statement says, ‘The measures contained in this bill are also part of a more extensive review of electoral laws already announced by the government.’ With the greatest respect, normally the measures follow the review; in this case the measures are prior to the review. I appreciate that there are obvious domestic reasons for this to be put by the minister in this way in the statement, but I say to him that these measures are not part of a more extensive review; they are totally separate. If they were part of it, they would have post-dated the outcome of the green paper review. The coalition has said from day one that we believe that this whole matter should be dealt with holistically. We have supported the government’s green paper process on the way through. There have been some timing delays with that, on which we have had no issue at all. We want this done properly and we understand that the reason for the delay is to make sure that it is done properly. We look forward to the release of the green paper in due course.

In relation to the $50 exception to the prohibition on the acceptance of anonymous gifts, I have only had a short period of time to look at this statement but I indicate to the minister that my initial reading is that it is conditional in the way that it does not reflect the committee’s views and also seems to be an increasing compliance burden over and above that which was proposed by the committee. I noticed that, at the bottom of the page, there is a provision that any excess funds be returned or paid to the Commonwealth. I think that this may well be a compliance nightmare, but again I will need to have a closer look at that.

There is one other matter, and that is in relation to the disclosure of thresholds and claims of discrimination for any breach of the second paragraph of subsection 37(2) of the bill. The committee, in the full report, which was effectively the all-of-committee report, foresaw the potential for gross infringements of individual rights. It is a pity that the government has not taken up the opportunity to address the committee’s views in relation to this. I accept that it would require further expenditure from the AEC, and I am acutely aware that money is tight, but I invite the minister to review this provision again. I thought that the committee’s way around this—that is, with a dedicated unit within the AEC—was, with the greatest respect and with no reflection at all on the minister, a far better way of dealing with this than to leave it in the hands of the government. An independent arbiter, if you like, of these matters via the AEC, as proposed by the committee, would have been far better.

With those very short comments, I again thank the minister for his indulgence in providing me with a copy of this document. Clearly the opposition will have a lot more to say about the matter when the bill comes back after Christmas. But I urge the minister to view this question holistically. We have been at odds with the government in relation to both this bill and the other bill that is listed for tomorrow. We do not believe they should have been done through the green paper type review, but the minister is fully aware of my views on that—we have had some very public debates about it. I thank the minister for his courtesy and I ask that he look at those matters that I have raised during this brief presentation.

John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too will be brief in my comments on this matter. The government has very deliberately provided today this ministerial statement in relation to the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2008 and has very deliberately circulated well in advance of the debate in this chamber the proposed government amendments to the bill. The government has responded to the advisory report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and believes that it is appropriate that this response and the amendments that the government proposes to move to the bill in response to the committee’s report are in fact available not only to senators in this chamber and member of the House but also to political parties and those involved in the political process. I want to ensure that there is ample opportunity for these measures to be fully scrutinised before the bill commences, and I want to ensure that all those involved in the political process have fair warning in terms of the approach the government intends to take.

In relation to the issues raised by Senator Ronaldson, I hate to disappoint him but he is not going to find a flow of correspondence between me and the Australian Electoral Commission on the matter that he has raised. One of the measures contained in the bill relates to the reduction in the current time frame for the lodging of returns from the existing 15-, 16- and 20-week periods to a period of eight weeks. There are new obligations on political parties in relation to these returns. I think that it is appropriate that maximum visibility is provided to political parties in relation to those matters.

The issue of the $50 exception to the prohibition on the acceptance of anonymous gifts is a direct response to the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. According to my reading of the Hansard and understanding of the committee’s report, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has picked up the recommendation of the Democratic Audit of Australia in this regard. I commend this approach to all involved.

The basis of the recommendation was to remove an onerous record-keeping burden in relation to fundraisers, including recording the name and details of each individual donor where only small amounts of money were donated. A lot of the traditional political party activities—we all know what they are like, the raffles, the trivia nights, the street stalls and the like—are what is contemplated here. I think the spirit of the amendments comes from the recommendation of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. Again, the parliament and the Senate have full visibility and full transparency in relation to the government’s proposals in this regard.

The other issue that Senator Ronaldson raised relates to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters recommendations about section 327(2) of the Electoral Act. I think it is important just to put it on the public record that the Australian Electoral Commission have advised that, while they have received several allegations of discrimination over the past 17 years, at no time have they actually received any evidence at all to substantiate such an allegation or been able to refer a matter to the Australian Federal Police for action. In fact, almost all of the allegations were made by persons who had been contacted by the AEC about failing to lodge a required donor return.

I commend the detail of this ministerial statement to the opposition in relation to this particular matter. I clearly acknowledge the fact that the reduced disclosure threshold contained in the bill may result in more donors being identified, but the government will ensure that any claims of discrimination in breach of the requirements of section 327(2) of the Electoral Act are fully and properly investigated by the appropriate authority. But there is simply no evidence to support the changes recommended to establish a new area within the Australian Electoral Commission to deal with such complaints. There needs to be a substantive basis to do this, and frankly the case is nonexistent.

I commend the government’s approach on this to the Senate. There will be ample opportunity over the weeks and months ahead for senators to look closely at the proposed government amendments. It is unusual to have a situation where there is a ministerial statement on such a bill with a change. The other key amendment is a change to the start-up date of 1 July 2009. This gives the government the opportunity to do this not only for the benefit of those who serve in this parliament but also for the benefit of the political parties, who are all impacted by these significant changes to the Electoral Act, which I stress—and this is the key point—are all measures designed to enhance the integrity of our electoral system. They are critically important measures that do just that. I have commended these measures to the Senate before and I will continue to do so. It is important that we ensure that these critical enhancements to the integrity of the Electoral Act and our electoral processes are agreed to by the Senate in the New Year.

Question agreed to.