Labor targets donations

Draft Bill aims to overhaul ‘weakest rules in Australia’

LABOR will attempt to fix the state’s lax donation laws with a private members bill, shadow Attorney-General Ella Haddad says.

Condemning government inaction on the issue, Ms Haddad has unveiled a draft Bill for public comment.

The Bill requires parties to disclose all donations of more than $1000, and sets spending caps of $100,000 per candidate and $1,000,000 per party per lower house election.

The bill would also ban anonymous donations of more than $1000.

Ms Haddad said Tasmania’s political donation rules were the weakest in Australia.

“The bar is very low, and results in a perception that money buys influence in Tasmania,” she said.

“Candidates for House of Assembly elections are under no obligation to declare any donations they receive or any of their campaign spending, nor are there any limits on the amount of money that can be donated or spent.

“This leads to an uneven playing field, and can lead to outcomes where candidates are elected because they have the deepest pockets.”

Calls for reform reached a crescendo after the 2018 state election, at which the Liberals outspent Labor three to one after an influx of cash from the poker machine industry.

The Election Funding Reform group last week released a plan which included bans on foreign and secret donations, plus contributions from property developers and the liquor, tobacco and firearms industries.

Greens leader O’Cassy O’Connor said the Bill didn’t go far enough, but reform was urgently needed.

“Our new premier has been at best noncommittal about the need for donations reform,’’ she said.

“We’re hoping that once the air has cleared a bit for him, he will see that it’s in his party’s benefit to go to an election being transparent about your funding sources, and to make sure that that election campaign is a contest of values and policies, not how much money you’ve been able to secure from vested interests.”

Attorney-General Elise

Archer said the government would not be rushed on the issue.

“It’s really important to note that the government has rightly been focused and, I’m sure Tasmanians understand, our focus has been dealing with the COVID-19 emergency,” she said.

“This is not something that is simple. It’s quite a complex reform, and we won’t be pushed by Labor into a knee-jerk reaction.”