Labor proposes $20,000 cap on donations to individual candidates

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Independent MPs are pushing back on government 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.

Transcript

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.

01:28There are three main planks to the new reforms.

01:30It goes to caps on donations, caps on spending, and also real-time disclosures of donations

01:37made to political parties.

01:39So just to talk through these caps, on donations there's a cap of $20,000 per candidate.

01:45That's the most an individual can donate to a single candidate, or $600,000 across an

01:51election campaign.

01:52So you can donate to multiple candidates, but that's capped at $600,000.

01:56For a person like Clive Palmer, that would be a significant change, given the money he's

02:00poured into campaigns in the past.

02:03In terms of spending, a candidate can spend no more than $800,000 on their campaign.

02:08That could affect teal independent candidates who have spent more in their own races in

02:12the past, and a cap of $90 million for political parties, which is less than Labor and the

02:17Coalition have spent on previous campaigns.

02:20There's also that disclosure change I mentioned before.

02:23Currently, any donation made under $17,000 or so does not have to be disclosed.

02:29That cap would be lowered to $1,000.

02:31So all donations made over that $1,000 mark would be made public and be made public sooner.

02:36We have seen significant pushback from the crossbench to these changes.

02:40They're calling this something of a stitch-up aimed at entrenching those two major parties

02:45in the system.

02:46They're furious about the consultation process, saying the government has been working with

02:49the opposition on this, but not with the crossbench to anywhere near the same extent.

02:54Though you heard the special minister of state, Don Farrell, arguing the government's been

02:58working on this for quite some time.

03:00They're primarily concerned this will limit the ability of independent candidates to take

03:05on the big major parties.

03:06I absolutely do think we need some caps to make sure that individuals can't have a disproportionate

03:11effect on politics.

03:12And I'm really happy to see some changes that do that.

03:18But rushing these through at the last minute is not the way to do that.

03:22That needs to be discussed openly.

03:25And there might be legal objections, but also I think it doesn't pass the pub test that

03:30we don't want the big parties to change the rules to lock themselves in.

03:35These laws will be introduced to parliament next week.

03:37The government wants them legislated by the end of the year, but they wouldn't take effect

03:41until the election after next.

03:44I should also mention we've heard from Clive Palmer.

03:47He does have one senator in the parliament for the United Australia Party, Senator Ralph

03:53Babbitt.

03:54He's already flagging a legal challenge and he said in a statement,

04:07So already flagging these laws might wind up in the High Court.

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