- by Anna Pha
- The Guardian
- Issue #2127
Australian Senate. Photo: JJ Harrison – flickr.com (CC BY-SA 3.0)
In 2022, one-third of Australian voters voted for independents and small parties as the electorate becomes increasingly disenchanted with an entrenched two-party system that sees Labor and the Coalition take turns in office.
What to do to keep the two-party system intact? – that is the question for the Lib-Lab duopoly. The answer: the major parties have spent the last 6 months working on a bill to do just that. They have come up with legislation that will make the system less equitable and harder for challengers to fairly contest elections.
Labor sees the Greens and independents, not the Liberal-National Coalition, as the main enemy.
The 200-page bill was presented to the House of Representatives on 18 November; second reading moved on 19 November; debated and passed with Lib-Lab support on 20 November. Labor blocked attempts by cross-benchers for it to be referred to a parliamentary committee for review, as is customary for such a complex piece of legislation.
“These are major reforms with far reaching impacts, and the suggestion that they won’t be subject to a Senate inquiry is damaging to our democracy,” independent Senator David Pocock said.
At the time of writing it was before the Senate.
“This is designed to take big money out of Australian politics. We’re not targeting individuals, we’re targeting the system that allows an uncapped amount of money to be spent on elections,” Special Minister of State Don Farrell said.
“We don’t want to go down the track of the American election system. We want to cap the amount of money people can spend – and that applies to anybody.
“This is all about making sure that ordinary Australians can participate.
“The Australian electoral system should not work on the basis that the only people who can be elected into parliament are people who are sponsored by billionaires.”
Fine words, but apart from a couple of transparency measures such as real-time disclosure of donations and the lowering the disclosure threshold to $1,000, nothing could be further from the truth.
The Greens, Centre for Public Integrity, Transparency International, the Australian Democracy Network and The Australia Institute have called for the $1,000 donation disclosure threshold and real-time disclosure to be taken out of the bill and passed now.
“These are major reforms with far reaching impacts and the suggestion that they won’t be subject to a Senate inquiry is damaging to our democracy,” independent Senator David Pocock said.
TAXPAYER HANDOUTS
The bill works heavily in favour of incumbents. The present amount of $2.91 per primary vote received will be increased to $5, costing taxpayers an additional $41 million. Around 75 per cent of that goes to the Lib-Lab coalition. The system does not work for new candidates who receive nothing.
The bill introduces $17 million in new administrative, non-campaigning funding: $90,000 per election cycle for a member of the House of Representatives and $45,000 per cycle for a Senator.
Why not pay the same to Senators as to MPs? Is it a coincidence that the Senate is where small parties and independents have made headway in breaking the Lib-Lab stranglehold?
Once again smaller parties and independents are put at a disadvantage, in particular new parties and independents seeking election who get nothing yet have administration costs.
The bill also puts a cap of $90 million on a federal political campaign and $800,000 for an individual electorate campaign.
LOOPHOLE No 1
There is a cap of $20,000 on individual donations to any one party or candidate per calendar year, which could be made prior to or even after an election creating 4 opportunities in a 3-year election cycle.
As there are 9 registered Labor parties – one for every state and territory and one federal – there are nine opportunities for a single donor to give to Liberal or Labor in a given calendar year $180,000 per year or $720,000 in an election cycle.
The Liberal Party has 8 parties, and the National Party 5 – so an individual could donate over a million dollars to the Coalition every election cycle.
Yet the headline news in the media was a $20,000 cap on political donations!
The Liberal-National Party could split, creating even more parties.
LOOPHOLE No2
The bill provides for parties to have “nominated entities.” These are black holes where the major parties park undeclared donations. For example, the Liberal Party has Parakeelia and Labor has John Curtin House Limited, organisations that exist only to receive donations.
There is no transparency when it comes to donations to these multi-million-dollar piggy banks. Under the legislation these funds will be able to be used to promote the party but not individual candidates. Their use could easily be concentrated in marginal electorates.
Smaller parties and individuals without “nominated entities” would be limited to the $20,000 cap for each electorate/candidate.
LOOPHOLE No3
“The popularity of the major parties is at an all-time low, with one in three Australians voting for a minor party or independent at the last election,” independent Kate Chaney told Radio National.
“But instead of trying to earn back the trust of voters, this bill is a desperate attempt by the big parties to rig the rules, squeeze out the competition and protect their patch.
“Both parties are running scared of the possibility of a bigger crossbench that will continue to hold them to account.”
Chaney said a new independent would have to comply with an $800,000 spending cap, while “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.”
There will also be a cap on federal spending for non-political parties of $11 million, which covers unions and special interest campaigner groups like Climate 200 but registered political parties will have a ceiling of $90 million.
Despite the millions of dollars of taxpayer money being donated to the major parties, the bill has no ‘truth in advertising’ measures. It is perfectly legal to lie in a political ad. The Albanese previously introduced a separate bill that would implement truth in political advertising laws, but then put it on the backburner.
Greens Senate leader and democracy spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters said: “Any reform which limits donations to anyone who challenges Liberal and Labor, while protecting the establishment parties’ sources of income, will be seen for what it is – a complete stitch up, undermining our democracy, and the public’s expectation of fair play.
“Both the big parties continue to accept huge sums of money from dirty industries like coal and gas with a track record of trying to buy favourable policy outcomes … .
“The Greens are ready, with a bill, that provides real electoral reform, but we’re very suspicious that the two big parties will gang up to rig the system to benefit themselves and lock out smaller parties and new entrants.”
UNDEMOCRATIC
The changes come into effect in 2026, for the 2028 election.
The Coalition has not guaranteed it will support the bill in its current form. Labor says it is open to further negotiations with them. Their aim is to treat the millions of dollars in trade union affiliation fees paid to Labor as donations. The bill explicitly excludes membership and affiliation fees for both party branches as well as “associated entities.”
“This is an attempt to ensure that the will of the Australian people is not represented. Instead of just doing better, Labor and Liberal are trying to change the rules to rig the system in their favour,” Greens leader Adam Bandt said.
As Independent Monique Ryan said in her second reading speech: “Australians want a system that fosters participation, encourages diverse viewpoints and ensures that all voices have a fair chance to be heard.”
Strategically, the two major parties have aligned their policy positions to exclude the Greens and independents: the two major parties are as one on fundamental issues such as the attack on organised labour, increased exploitation of labour across the board, blocking action on climate change, unfettered access to natural resources, no barriers to mergers, and increased monopoly.
At time of writing, the Bill has been shelved, as talks between Labor and the Coalition have reached an impasse. Labor will keep trying to get it through.
