Independent MPs are pushing back on plans to limit donations and spending during federal elections. Labor and the Coalition have been negotiating on sweeping changes to the laws, set to land in federal parliament next week. The bill would seek to cap how much a candidate can receive from a political donor to $20,000 per year.
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00:00The government says it's taking on big money in politics.
00:05It's concerned that very wealthy Australians can use their money to essentially buy influence
00:10and shape political campaigns.
00:14Someone like Clive Palmer is clearly a prime target of these new laws.
00:18Of course, he has in the past poured tens of millions of dollars of his own money into
00:23his own political campaigns, into his own political party in particular, eventually
00:29winning seats in Parliament too.
00:31The government says it's been working on these laws for quite some time, consulting with
00:37the opposition primarily to put together this package.
00:41It says it wants to dilute the power of big donors and try and level the political playing
00:45field.
00:46But there's already quite a bit of pushback to these new laws, particularly from the crossbench
00:51who are calling this a stitch up between the two major parties in Australia aimed at entrenching
00:57their own power within the Parliament.
00:59This is designed to take big money out of Australian politics.
01:05We're not targeting individuals.
01:08We're targeting the system that allows an uncapped amount of money to be spent on elections.
01:19We don't want to go down the track of the American election system.
01:23We want to cap the amount of money people can spend, and that applies to anybody.
01:29So Tom, what would the new limits be?
01:31Yeah, Lorna, there are three main planks to the new reforms.
01:35It goes to caps on donations, caps on spending, and also real time disclosures of donations
01:42made to political parties.
01:43So just to talk through these caps, on donations there's a cap of $20,000 per candidate.
01:49That's the most an individual can donate to a single candidate, or $600,000 across
01:55an election campaign.
01:56So you can donate to multiple candidates, but that's capped at $600,000.
02:00For a person like Clive Palmer, that would be a significant change given the money he's
02:04poured into campaigns in the past.
02:07In terms of spending, a candidate can spend no more than $800,000 on their campaign.
02:12That could affect Teal independent candidates who have spent more in their own races in
02:16the past, and a cap of $90 million for political parties, which is less than Labor and the
02:21Coalition have spent on previous campaigns.
02:24There's also that disclosure change I mentioned before.
02:27Currently, any donation made under $17,000 or so does not have to be disclosed.
02:33That cap would be lowered to $1,000.
02:36So all donations made over that $1,000 mark would be made public and be made public sooner
02:40too.
02:41OK, what's been the reaction then?
02:43Yeah, as I mentioned before, we have seen significant pushback from the crossbench to
02:48these changes.
02:49They're calling this something of a stitch up aimed at entrenching those two major parties
02:53in the system.
02:54They're furious about the consultation process, saying the government has been working with
02:58the opposition on this, but not with the crossbench to anywhere near the same extent.
03:02Though you heard the special minister of state, Don Farrell, arguing the government's been
03:06working on this for quite some time.
03:08They're primarily concerned this will limit the ability of independent candidates to take
03:13on the big major parties.
03:15So as we saw at the last election, a whole quite a large number, really, of independent
03:19candidates elected to the parliament taking on Labor or Liberal candidates in key seats.
03:25They say these rules would perhaps limit their ability to push back on those well-established
03:30campaigns.
03:31Here's the member for Curtin, Kate Cheney, an independent MP, speaking on this earlier
03:35today.
03:36I absolutely do think we need some caps to make sure that individuals can't have a disproportionate
03:41effect on politics.
03:42And I'm really happy to see some changes that do that.
03:47But rushing these through at the last minute is not the way to do that.
03:51That needs to be discussed openly.
03:54And there might be legal objections, but also I think it doesn't pass the pub test that
04:00we don't want the big parties to change the rules to lock themselves in.
04:05Now Lorna, these laws will be introduced to parliament next week.
04:08The government wants them legislated by the end of the year, but they wouldn't take effect
04:12until the election after next.
04:14I should also mention we've heard from Clive Palmer.
04:17Of course, he does have one senator in the parliament for his Palmer United, the United
04:22Australia Party.
04:23Sorry, Senator Ralph Babbitt.
04:25He's already flagging a legal challenge and he said in a statement, this new legislation
04:29is designed to rig elections.
04:31It will also hinder the independents, the regular Australians, from standing for parliament,
04:36which is what the constitution was designed for.
04:38So already flagging these laws might wind up in the High Court.