The Australian federal government is hoping to end the “arms race” of election spending by introducing caps for parties, candidates, and donors.
Donations will be disclosed in almost real-time, and the threshold at which they must be reported will be significantly reduced.
The changes would not affect the 2025 federal election but instead, come into force in 2028.
And that looks likely to happen, as Labor plans to introduce the new rules in Parliament on Nov. 18 and hopes to have them passed within two weeks.
New Disclosure Rules
Under the new regime, donors would be limited to giving a maximum of $20,000 to a candidate within a calendar year. Candidates would be required to disclose any donations of more than $1,000—a massive decrease from the current trigger of $16,900.
Further, candidates and parties would have to reveal their funders roughly two weeks after the end of a calendar month; which changes to weekly once an election campaign begins; and then daily during the seven days leading up to polling day and the seven days after.
No More Than $600,000 From Any One Source
Along with the $20,000 cap per individual candidate, a donor is also restricted by a higher cap of $600,000.
For example, a donor could theoretically donate $20,000 to one candidate, and $20,000 to another.
Yet one consideration is any donor with the financial heft normally sends large amounts directly to the party, which is then distributed at their discretion.
More Money for Winning Votes
The Australian Electoral Commission also stands to pay parties more.
Those who succeed in gaining more than 4 or more percent of the primary vote—whether or not they win—will see their payment from the public purse increased from the $2.914 per vote paid at the time of the last election, to $5.00.
The total cost to the taxpayer could increase from $75 million to as high as $129 million.
Teal MP Critical of Proposal
Independent “teal” MP Kate Chaney was critical of the proposal.
“While a new independent would have to comply with a $800,000 spending cap, it appears that each political party can spend $90 million, shifting that money around to support any member who is being threatened by a newcomer,” she said in a statement.
Special Minister of State Don Farrell said the reforms would “tackle big money in our electoral system and protect our democracy.”
“Years of inquiries and evidence from multiple elections show us that the biggest weakness to our electoral system is big money influencing our political system,” he said.
“Over the last decade, we have seen billionaires repeatedly attempt to sway our elections, not through policy or participation, but through money and misinformation,” Farrell said in a veiled reference to mining magnate Clive Palmer.
The Big Donors
At the 2022 federal election, Climate 200, headed by Simon Holmes à Court, was the largest donor, dwarfing the second highest, from an investment firm, of $290,000.
As might be expected with that level of support behind them, the largest spenders in that election were teal candidates Allegra Spender ($2.1 million), Monique Ryan ($2.1 million), and Zoe Daniel ($1.6 million).
The top 12 spenders were all independent candidates.
However, the changes seem more targeted at billionaires willing to enter the political ring after the United Australia Party (UAP) spent $123 million in the last election to win just one Senate seat.
The relatively high limits set by the current proposal are likely in anticipation of a legal challenge from Palmer, who donated almost all of those funds himself, which he will be unable to repeat with the new $600,000 cap.
On the other hand, the Liberal-National Coalition, which spent $132 million, and Labor, which spent $116 million, would also be curtailed, but only to $90 million.
