Page 1681 - Week 05 - Thursday, 8 May 2008
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of removing the outdated provision for non-party groups. I note that those opposite and other members of this place have sought to characterise it as a government move to improve its chances in the next election. Of course, very few of the members in this place tonight have had the honesty to concede that, in fact, it was a recommendation of the ACT Electoral Commission from the past two ACT elections. I think that says it all about the real motivations of some people in this debate.
The bill, as introduced, contains a wide range of changes to the scheme for disclosure of political donations and expenditure. These amendments were drafted in the context of the changes made in 2006 to the commonwealth disclosure laws, which saw commonwealth disclosure thresholds raised to over $10,000. In March this year the new federal government announced its intention to make a range of changes to take effect from 1 July this year, most notably to reduce all disclosure thresholds to $1,000. At the same time the federal government announced its intention to conduct a thorough review of the nation’s electoral laws in consultation with the states and territories, including a more detailed review of those laws. The government welcomes these proposals and will be participating actively in them.
As a result of this announcement and the likelihood of further changes at the national level the government has decided to delay making major changes to the ACT’s disclosure scheme until the commonwealth’s review process is complete. This is not expected to occur until after the October ACT election. Accordingly, I intend to move a range of government amendments to the bill to undo most of the changes to the disclosure scheme included in the bill.
However, mindful of the ACT election due in October, I also intend to move amendments to the bill to make a small number of key changes to the disclosure scheme to apply from 1 July this year. Importantly, these changes include providing that all disclosure thresholds are to be reduced to $1,000 to bring the ACT into line with the forthcoming commonwealth change. This is the one commonwealth change that is easy and straightforward to implement and is the reason why the government has chosen to do it at this time.
Another of these changes will be providing that political parties and associated entities registered at both the ACT and commonwealth levels will not be able to satisfy their disclosure obligations by submitting a copy of their commonwealth disclosure returns to the ACT Electoral Commission to ensure that the ACT cannot in future have its disclosure scheme automatically altered by changes at the commonwealth level. I note that some other major parties in this place—not the Australian Labor Party—have been using this provision to report rather than to submit an ACT return.
Another change is to provide that associated entities are to be required to disclose the identities of persons who make payments to the entity of any amount and the total amount paid by each such person, except in relation to normal business services, to ensure that donors cannot avoid disclosure by giving through multiple associated entities. It is a sensible reform that is designed to capture all types of donations. Finally, associated entities are to be required to notify donors of their disclosure obligations, bringing them into line with the requirement imposed on registered parties.
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