Executive overview

Australians have been let down by their political leaders, other members of parliament (MPs) and by the federal parliamentary committee system. This harsh assessment is the result of research into political donations laws in this country.

In 2008, a 99-page Electoral Reform Green Paper: Donations, Funding and Expenditure was circulated by the then Special Minister of State, Senator John Faulkner in the hope it would ‘open debate and lead to the implementation of reforms that will ensure the Australian electoral system is world’s best practice’. It did not.

In 2011, dedicated parliamentary research staff of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) wrote a comprehensive 268-page Report on the Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns for consideration and debate by members of the Committee, the parliament and, through parliamentary processes, the people.

Learned experts gave freely of their time and considerable knowledge in the form of written submissions to the JSCEM. They also agreed to appear before Committee hearings in person. They were not alone; several institutions made written submissions and appeared before the Committee. There was also input from some MPs and members of the public. A key stakeholder, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), made multiple submissions and appeared before the JSCEM on several occasions.

The JSCEM report summarized, in a highly readable fashion, key features of the current scheme and proposed a set of reforms. Thirty well-considered recommendations were made under the following headings: private funding; options for private funding reform; expenditure; public funding; third parties and associated entities; compliance; and other issues.

To date there is little, some might say nothing, to show for the money taxpayers have, knowingly or unknowingly, invested into reforming the funding of federal politics in Australia. Indeed the return on investment over the past eight years is zero. As the AEC points out, ‘No legislation relating to political donations and funding has been enacted by [the Federal Parliament] since 2008’. If any private institution had this type of return on their research and development budget they would, by now, have gone out of business.

The failure of the Australian Government to enact any reform, and for such a long period of time, indicates successive governments’ complete disdain for the committee process. It also shows a concerning level of disrespect toward all those who contributed their time and expertise to the process.