Page 2145 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 2020
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debate, receive large amounts of public funding to assist in complying with the Electoral Act requirements and such parties therefore should have the systems needed to report donations that exceed $1,000 every seven days. We will not be supporting the amendment.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 10, as amended, agreed to.
Proposed new clauses 10A and 10B.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (6.14): I move amendment No 6 circulated in my name, which inserts new clauses 10A and 10B [see schedule 5 at page 2166]. The purpose of this is to seek to ban gifts of over $10,000 per year by any individual or corporate group or a close associate of such. The reason for this is that the democratic electoral system should be based on the premise that it is the will of the people that should determine who governs them. Alternatively, a system where an oligopoly corporation or individual or sector with a vested interested in the outcome of an election or the actions of an elected representative may influence outcomes through large political donations is very undesirable.
The proposed new section 221 caps donations to MLA’s political parties, non-party candidates and associated entities at $10,000 per year. Proposed new section 221(4) defines close associates in broad terms and includes related body corporates and domestic partners. This means that people or corporations will not be able to circumvent the donation cap by donating more than $10,000 across associated entities—for example, by donating $10,000 to each candidate and their domestic partner in any given year.
In 2012 the Assembly voted for a $10,000 limit, but the Electoral Amendment Act in 2015 removed that. Basically all this amendment is trying to do is to reinstate the previous provision. I point out that the proposed limit of $10,000 is quite generous. It is much higher than the donation limit in Victoria, which is currently set at $4,000 over the entire four-year parliamentary term.
The other thing that I make clear, because there has been some confusion, is that many political parties require candidates and elected members to make a financial contribution to their party. The Greens are one of those. I believe that the other two parties here are in that boat. These contributions, when required by the party, are classified by the Australian Tax Office as work-related expenses and are tax deductible. Clearly any contribution that is regarded by the ATO as a work-related expense and is tax deductible could not be described as a donation.
This is consistent with the New South Wales legislation which also caps political donations at a lower limit than the proposed $10,000. It caps political donations, but it also recognises explicitly the requirements placed on party candidates and members to pay levies. The Greens see no place for very large donations. Other jurisdictions, such as Victoria, have banned them. I hope the Assembly will do so today, as it did in 2012.
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