Media release – The Australia Institute, 4 October 2021

Tasmanian Government Must Go Further to Make Elections Fairer

The Tasmanian Government’s proposals to make political donations and election spending more transparent are a step in the right direction, but the new laws do not go far enough. The legislation still leaves Tasmania with the weakest regulation of third-party campaigners, such as industry lobby groups, of any state or territory in Australia.

The proposed electoral reforms improve transparency for candidates and political parties, but represent a huge missed opportunity to bring much needed accountability to third-party campaigners, according to the joint submission prepared by the Australia Institute Tasmania,  the Human Rights Law Centre, and Australian Conservation Foundation to the Department of Justice’s Review into the proposed Electoral Disclosure and Funding Bill 2021 (Tas) and Electoral Matters (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2021 (Tas).

Key Information:

  • The proposed legislation requires political donations over $5,000 to be disclosed every 6 months, or every 7 days in the lead up to an election — a moderate improvement on current laws which require  political donations above $14,500 to be disclosed once a year.
    • The submission calls for all donations to political parties and candidates of $1,000 or more to be publicly disclosed.
  • The proposed legislation misses the opportunity to introduce spending caps and adequate transparency for third-party campaigners. If the proposed laws proceed as drafted, Tasmania will still have the weakest regulation of third-party campaigners in the country. Huge corporate campaigns, like that of the gambling industry in 2018, will likely continue to influence political processes and election outcomes into the future.
  • The proposed legislation includes a loophole that would make it easy for third-party campaigners to hide political donations from public view: only donations in the six months prior to an election need be disclosed, meaning that an industry lobby group could receive a major donation six months and one day prior to the election with no requirement to declare the source of the donation.
  • The organisations call on the Tasmanian Government to make a raft of changes to the proposed laws to make elections more fair and transparent, including:
    • Introducing stronger, proportionate regulation of third-party campaigners;
    • Requiring political parties and candidates to disclose donations of $1,000 or more;
    • Introducing spending caps on elections, to prevent big industries using their wealth to flood the airwaves.
    • Amending the legislation to introduce truth in political advertising provisions, establishing an offence for misleading political advertising.

“We agree with a number of parties and commentators that the threshold for the disclosure of donations should be set at $1,000 for political parties, candidates and associated entities,” said Eloise Carr, Director of the Australia Institute Tasmania.

“This is consistent with most jurisdictions in Australia and is important to achieve greater transparency,”

“We also recommend amending the legislation to introduce truth in political advertising provisions, modelled on South Australian and ACT legislation,” said Ms Carr.

Alice Drury, Senior Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre, said:

“Tasmanians deserve to have elections that are fair and open. These proposed laws go some way to improving the status quo, which is the worst regulation of elections in the country, but they don’t go nearly far enough.

“The Tasmanian Government can fix this by amending the proposed laws to require sensible regulation of third-party campaigners, like the gambling industry. It should create a level playing field in election debates by introducing spending caps for Legislative Assembly elections, which already exist for the Legislative Council,” Ms Drury said.

Jolene Elberth, Democracy Campaigner, Australian Conservation Foundation, said:

“The 2018 state election showed us what happens when cashed up industry groups are allowed to go on a spending spree to protect their own financial interests.

“Elections should be about the best ideas, not who has the deepest pockets.

“While we congratulate the Gutwein Government for this significant step in the right direction, it’s critical the regulations on third parties be strengthened,” Ms Elberth said.

Media release – Ella Haddad MP, 4 October 2021

Time for Archer to get serious on electoral and donation reform

The Gutwein Liberal Government needs to provide a guarantee that it is finally listening and will take seriously the responses to its proposed electoral and donation reform in Tasmania.

Shadow Attorney-General Ella Haddad said the government and Attorney-General Elise Archer now had before them a range of submissions, including from Labor, which are designed to make electoral funding and donations more transparent and give Tasmanians confidence that laws are necessarily tough.

“We welcome the fact that the government has finally reached the point – after years of lobbying from Labor – that they have released the draft Electoral Disclosure and Funding Bill,” Ms Haddad said.

“But the fact is this draft bill does not go far enough and more ambitious targets are needed so Tasmania can finally shake the label of having the weakest laws in the country.

“Ms Archer has said she will read the submissions but she has given no similar guarantee that she will take on board the type of tough reform that is required.

“In the past that fact that the current laws are simply not fair and discourage openness and transparency has led to unhealthy election spending and a genuine lack of a level playing field.”

Under Labor’s proposed amendments to the Bill, the amount of donations to political parties would no longer be shrouded in secrecy, donations would be disclosed monthly and spending caps would be introduced for Lower House elections.

Ms Haddad said Labor’s submission contained important amendments, including:

  • Lowering the disclosure threshold for political donations from the government’s suggested $5,000 to $1,000
  • Introducing spending caps for candidates and parties for House of Assembly elections
  • Reducing the timeframe for disclosure of donations outside of an election period from the Bill’s suggested six months to one month
  • Keeping donation disclosures publicly available for at least the full period of a Parliamentary term, rather than the currently proposed six months

“Labor’s significant, important amendments need to be addressed before this Bill reaches the floor of the Parliament.

“We need to make a genuine effort to restore public confidence in the political process in this state and establish laws which will make elections a battle of ideas, not a battle of bank accounts.

“Running for Parliament should be something available to anyone who aspires to office, not limited to the wealthy.”

Media Release – Meg Webb MLC, 4 October 2021

Political Donation Reform

Independent Member for Nelson Meg Webb today called for Tasmania to make meaningful political donation reform – including prohibiting gaming and liquor, tobacco, firearms and property development entities from donation.

Ms Webb said Tasmanians have waited decades for the establishment of a world-class and modern state-based political donations and election finance regulation system.

“For too long, Tasmania’s political donation system was the most secretive and least regulated in Australia, reliant upon dated and inadequate Commonwealth disclosure laws,” Ms Webb said.

“I am calling on Tasmania to settle for nothing short of nation-leading, gold-standard donation reform.

“Donation disclosure threshold must be set at $1000. Public reporting of donations must be genuinely real-time. We must prohibit political donations from those sectors that may seek to influence policy outcomes for financial gain.

“In NSW, property developers and gaming and liquor interests are banned from donation. In Queensland and the ACT, property developers are banned.

“A ban on specific sectors making political donations is crucial to limit actual and perceived undue influence on the integrity of democratic elections and governance.

“We could lead the nation by introducing these reforms that are much-needed and will deliver ground-breaking transparency for our state.”

Ms Webb has made Submission to the Electoral Disclosure and Funding Bill 2021 Exposure Draft.

“My submission focuses on assessing how well the exposure draft delivers against key principles, including:

  • protecting the integrity of democratic elections and representative government
  • promoting fairness and transparency in politics
  • timely and transparent political donation disclosures
  • applying rigorous limitations on undue influence of donors and vested corporate interests
  • regulating third parties’ involvement

“I would contend that the government’s draft bill falls well short and Tasmania should aim to not just match, but improve on the protections in place in other States, including:

  • Election donations disclosures threshold of $1000
  • Timely donation disclosures requirements that ensure all election donations are publicly disclosed by polling day
  • Caps on election expenditure, and donations
  • Bans on corporate donations from specific sectors

Ms Webb has made seven Recommendations in her Submission.

In order to fully meet Tasmanians’ expectation for a fair and transparent political donations disclosure regime, the exposure draft Bill needs to be amended to:

RECOMMENDATION 1:

  • Define a ‘reportable political donation’ to be a donation of $1, 000 or more (aggregated).

RECOMMENDATION 2:

  1. a) Require all ‘reportable election donations’ to be publicly disclosed by polling day;
  2. b) Provide for more immediate ‘reportable election donations’ disclosure requirements for submission to the Commission; and
  3. c) Provide for more immediate time limits for the ‘reportable election donations’ disclosure publication by the Commission, which must occur before polling day.

RECOMMENDATION 3:

  1. a) Provide for more timely election campaign expenditure disclosure requirements for submission to the Commission; and
  2. b) Provide for more timely election campaign expenditure disclosure publication by the Commission.

RECOMMENDATION 4:

  1. a) Provide for appropriate Assembly election campaign expenditure caps imposed on all registered political parties, independent candidates, associated entities and third parties; and
  2. b) Provide an aggregated cap on the total amount of election donations to be received by any one donor individual or organisation to any registered political party or candidate during an election cycle.

RECOMMENDATION 5:

  • Prohibit the use and receipt of political donations from property developers, tobacco, liquor and gaming, and firearm entities.

RECOMMENDATION 6:

  1. a) Prohibit all anonymous donations to registered political parties, candidates and associated entities.
  2. b) Require the name and address of all political and electoral donors, not only those making ‘reportable donations’, be collected and retained by registered political parties, candidates and associated entities.
  3. c) Require that the aggregate total of non-reportable political and electoral donations received by registered political parties, candidates and associated entities be publicly reported.

RECOMMENDATION 7: 

  • Include required election campaign expenditure caps as part of the proposed new public funding of election campaigns.

RECOMMENDATION 8:

  1. a) Further analysis and consideration regarding the exclusion of the Legislative Council from the proposed public funding provisions;
  2. b) Further examination of other national jurisdictions public funding models which provide public funding assistance to new and emerging parties, in order to promote political diversity, and/or public policy development.

Allowable Donation Restrictions and Thresholds Interjurisdictional comparison

View Meg’s full submission here