Donor laws slammed
THE state’s electoral laws are archaic and serve to obscure the source of donations to political parties, two University of Tasmania academics say.
In their submission to a review of the Tasmanian Electoral Act, Richard Eccleston and Nicholas Gribble from the Institute for the Study of Social Change say changes are needed to bring the laws up to date.
They note that the laws governing the declaration of donations were set to be the worst in the nation.
“Disclosure laws are nonexistent in Tasmania at the state level,” their submission said.
“The only disclosure required in Tasmanian elections is that mandated by federal laws under which donations in excess of $13,800 must be disclosed.
“If legislation currently being considered by the Victorian Parliament is enacted Tasmania will have the weakest disclosure laws of any state or territory.
“In the absence of reform, the current situation whereby less than 25 per cent of all political donations are disclosed because the vast majority of donations are below the federal threshold will be perpetuated.”
The submission’s analysis of the last six years’ worth of declared donations revealed the Liberal Party declared $12 million worth of receipts, Labor $5.5 million and the Greens $3.6 million.
The submission noted that donations could be concealed for up to 19 months because money received in a given financial year was not made public until the following February.
And laws preventing newspapers from reporting political matters on the day of an election were outdated in the era of the internet, the submission said.
“We argue the Tasmanian laws are no longer fit for purpose and are problematic in the social media era.
“As seen at the 2018 Tasma- nian election, voters were subject to saturation advertising and commentary on several online platforms on election day, while the state’s main newspapers were unable to publish campaign coverage.
“The rise of new media and social media both undermines the current legislation and the necessity for it.”
The review of the Electoral Act is expected to produce a draft report by the end of the year.