Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

I table an explanatory memorandum. I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

This Bill delivers on Labor's longstanding commitment to strengthen our electoral system, and protect Australian democracy.

This Bill seeks to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 by lowering the disclosure threshold for political donations from the current rate of $14,000 to a fixed $1,000.

Labor is proud to have continually fought for reform of political donations and improved transparency throughout our political system.

Labor took a clear donations policy to both the 2016 and 2019 elections. In 2016 Labor committed to:

Labor has successfully secured reform on many of these commitments, even from opposition.

A ban on foreign political donations is now in place, and public funding has been successfully linked to campaign expenditure; preventing candidates and parties from profiting from the electoral system.

Reducing the donation disclosure threshold from the current level of $14,000 indexed to inflation to a fixed $1,000 remains an important reform.

It was a Labor Government under Bob Hawke that first introduced a donations disclosure scheme in 1983. The disclosure threshold was set at $1,000 and returns were required to be provided to the Australian Electoral Commission 15 weeks after an election.

In 2006 the Liberal Government under Prime Minister John Howard allowed the disclosure threshold to blow out to $10,000. It was a change made by a Liberal Government that wanted to hide the donations it was receiving.

Then Prime Minister Howard also linked the $10,000 threshold to the CPI. By making that allowance for indexation, the threshold has now blown out to a staggering $14,000.

Ever since the Coalition changed the law and allowed the disclosure threshold to increase, It is completely unjustifiable in the modem era that we consider someone making up to a $14,000 donation is not something a political party should disclose.

Labor's policy has been to return it to the level set by Bob Hawke. And that is what we will do with this Bill. We will return the disclosure threshold to $1,000 and remove indexation.

This Bill will not prevent donations of greater than $1,000 being made. It will simply require donations over this amount to be disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission. The ability for Australian voters to know who is making large political donations is an important step in restoring the integrity of our democracy.

Central to this is the need for a properly funded Electoral Commission. Lowering the disclosure threshold will necessarily increase the number of disclosures being made. The AEC does more than just run an election every three years. It protects our democracy. It must be properly funded to do so.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.