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Committee supports moves to improve the transparency of political financing

Federal Parliament’s Electoral Matters Committee has supported proposals to improve the transparency of funding and expenditure in the political system in a report tabled in the House of Representatives today.

The joint committee was asked by the Senate in June to review the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2008.

“The proposals included in the bill will lead to greater openness and transparency in political party funding and bring back some public confidence in the funding system,” committee chair Daryl Melham said.

• The bill proposes amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act that will:
  reduce the disclosure threshold from $10,900 (CPI-indexed) to $1000;
• prohibit foreign and anonymous donations to be received by registered political parties, candidates and members of Senate groups and also prevent the use of foreign and anonymous donations for political expenditure;
• introduce a claims-based system to tie public funding to electoral expenditure;
• establish a biannual disclosure framework in place of annual returns and reduce the timeframes for the return and publication of disclosure returns; and
• introduce new offences and increase penalties for a range of existing offences.

The committee has made two recommendations to amend the bill. The first is to expand the definition of ‘electoral expenditure’ to allow for reasonable administrative expenses related to campaigning. The second is to apply a cap of $50 below which anonymous donations can be received to avoid imposing an administrative burden on small-scale fund raising activities.

“While the proposed changes may lead to some additional compliance costs they achieve the appropriate balance between transparency and the freedom to participate in the political process,” Mr Melham said.

More information

Visit: Joint Electoral Matters Committee – Inquiry into research training

Read: Report

Read: Relevant submissions on Inquiry website

Comments to: liaison.reps@aph.gov.au
Last reviewed 28 October, 2008 by the House Liaison and Projects Office
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