Recent claims made under parliamentary privilege have again put political donations in the spotlight and highlighted the urgent need for reform.
But the Liberals continue to stall.
Labor takes the issue of foreign interference very seriously, which is why we announced in June 2017 that we would no longer accept foreign donations.
The Liberal Party should immediately rule out accepting any foreign donations and stop doing everything it can – including challenging Queensland’s state electoral laws – to delay and avoid necessary reforms to Australia’s political donations laws.
It has been 45 days since the release of the consensus report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, which highlights the significant failings of the Government’s Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill 2017.
If the Liberals won’t voluntarily stop accepting foreign donations, they must at the very least respond to the issues raised by JSCEM and announce a time-line for implementing this much needed reform.
Labor is proud to have continually fought for improved transparency and greater accountability.
We took a policy of significant donation reform to the last election and, in 2016, introduced legislation in the Parliament to deliver our plan, which will:
- Ban foreign donations;
- Require all donations over $1000 to be disclosed;
- Ban donation splitting;
- Ban anonymous donations above $50;
- Link public funding to campaign expenditure;
- Introduce new offences and increase penalties for breaches.