Introduction
Today the Government introduces the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024.
It proposes the largest reform to Australia’s electoral laws in over 40 years.
Delivering on our commitment to strengthen and enhance the integrity of federal elections through improved transparency and accountability.
The Bill implements recommendations of the multipartisan Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM).
Those recommendations and this Bill seek to remove the influence of big money in politics.
Ensuring that our electoral system remains a system we can all trust.
Trust that election results are not unfairly skewed by ‘big money’.
Trust that elections are a contest of ideas, not bank balances.
Trust that we know who is funding election campaigns with more information about campaign financing provided before voting day.
Australia has an electoral system that is the envy of the world.
This Bill will enhance and strengthen our elections and Australia’s representative democracy.
Changes to gifts
To improve political donation transparency, the Bill reduces the donation disclosure threshold from the current $16,900 to $1,000.
The Bill applies the disclosure threshold as a cumulative value over a calendar year.
This is an important integrity measure to prevent ‘donation splitting,’ whereby actors seek to avoid transparency and accountability by making multiple donations below the threshold.
The Bill raises the expenditure threshold for a ‘third party’ to $20,000 over a year.
Supporting small, local-issue campaigners to continue their advocacy and maintain fair reporting obligations.
The Bill also responds to community expectations by expanding the disclosure requirements for political donations that will be captured as gifts.
Expedited disclosure
The Government’s Bill improves public reporting timelines, requiring gifts that meet the $1,000 threshold be disclosed sooner.
Currently, the Australian public wait up to 24 weeks after polling day.
Our Bill ensures voters will be able to access information about who is funding elections and supporting candidates on and before voting day.
Once an election is called, donation disclosures will be required within 7 days, and 24 hours in the week before and after polling day.
Outside of elections, monthly donation disclosures will be required.
Gift caps
Responding to JSCEM’s recommendation, the Bill includes caps on political donations and caps on campaign spending.
Gift caps operate effectively in other Australian jurisdictions and internationally.
Caps limit the growth and influence of excessive donations that damage the integrity of electoral systems.
Disproportionately large donations undermine the integrity of Australia’s electoral system.
So, under this Bill, political donations from the same donor to the same recipient have an annual gift cap of $20,000.
The gift cap will be indexed annually and apply to all persons and entities engaging in the federal electoral system.
It will apply to political parties, candidates, associated entities, significant third parties, nominated entities and third parties.
The Bill also establishes an ‘overall gift cap’ that will limit the overall value of gifts an individual donor can give to certain persons or entities in a calendar year.
The Bill also establishes a ‘State and Territory gift cap’ that limits the total value of gifts connected to a State or Territory.
Donation caps will not affect donations made for a non-electoral purpose, or donations related to State, Territory, or local government elections.
Expenditure caps
The Bill also implements JSCEM’s recommendation to establish caps on electoral expenditure including campaign spending.
In 2022, some candidates spent over $2 million on their campaigns.
The proposed expenditure caps aim to level the playing field.
This provides greater access for individuals and entities to participate in political debate.
The caps set a ceiling to protect the outcomes of Australian federal elections from being unfairly influenced by organisations or individuals with large amounts of money.
Electoral expenditure by registered political parties and their ‘expenditure group’ will be aggregated, meaning political parties will share a cap with state branches (including related state branches), their endorsed candidates, elected parliamentarians and nominated entities.
Together, they will have:
- a ‘Federal cap’ of $90 million
- a ‘Divisional cap’ of $800,000, and
- a ‘Senate cap’ for a State or Territory based on the number of Division in the relevant State or Territory.
Expenditure caps will be set at proportionate levels for candidates and parliamentarians who are not endorsed by a registered political party.
These individuals will be subject to:
- an $800,000 annual cap for independent House of Representatives candidates and members, and
- one sixth of a registered political party’s State Senate cap, or half of a political party’s Territory Senate cap, for independent Senate candidates and Senators.
Significant third parties, associated entities and third parties will also be subject to expenditure caps of $11.25 million per year.
With limits on expenditure targeted to specific Divisions, States and Territories.
Exemptions to the electoral expenditure caps will apply for:
- campaign travel related expenditure, to support candidates running campaigns in geographically large or remote electorates engage with electors across those electorates
- expenditure on translation and interpretation services, to support candidates communicate across culturally and linguistically diverse communities within their electorate
- campaign offices up to the value of $20,000 for a national campaign headquarters and per Division, State or Territory, and
- expenditure up to the value of $20,000 on how-to-vote card design and printing for independent candidates.
Separate by-election and Senate-only election caps will also apply to all persons and entities.
Electoral expenditure caps are already in place in several Australian state and territory jurisdictions, as well as in international jurisdictions with similar democracies to Australia.
Accounting
Other measures in this Bill will improve reporting through annual returns.
Persons and entities will be required to disclose their gifts and electoral expenditure and submit their returns within eight weeks from December 31.
Election returns will be repealed, and candidates will instead submit annual returns.
Donors to candidates will report gifts for a federal purpose under the expedited disclosure rules.
This Bill also implements JSCEM’s recommendation that those engaged in political campaigning must establish a federal election Commonwealth Campaign Account to allow for better disclosure and monitoring.
These accounts will capture all electoral expenditure and gifts received for a federal purpose.
Funding
Aligned with JSCEM’s recommendation, the Bill introduces a new system of administrative funding, establishing administrative assistance funding for parliamentary parties and independent Parliamentarians.
This provides registered political parties and independent members with the necessary financial support to meet the new transparency requirements.
JSCEM recommended an increase to public funding for parties and candidates and the Bill increases public election funding for eligible political parties and candidates.
This Bill will increase the amount of public election funding provided to political parties and candidates that receive at least 4 per cent of the total formal first preference votes in an election.
These election participants will now receive $5 per formal first preference vote.
The Bill will also allow regulations to be made to permit advance payments of this election funding.
This seeks to offset some of the impact of gift caps, diminishing the reliance of political campaigns on private donors.
Other measures
This Bill introduces a number of other improvements and machinery measures.
It amends the Electoral Act to expand the eligibility criteria for pre‑poll and postal voting to support those with a disability to vote.
This expansion will also apply to carers of persons with disability if they are unable to attend a polling booth due to their caring obligations.
The Bill simplifies reporting obligations for members of Senate groups by requiring they only report as a candidate, removing their additional reporting requirement as a ‘Senate group member’.
This Bill will streamline and modernise the Australian Electoral Commission’s existing powers to enforce the funding and disclosure requirements.
This will enhance the Commission’s ability to investigate potential contraventions and broaden its power to prevent schemes that try to get around the funding and disclosure obligations in the Electoral Act.
The Bill also contains additional protections for voters and polling workers from harassment in the polling place.
Inappropriate filming of polling places and polling officials without consent will be prohibited, as will live-streaming or publishing this filming.
Inappropriate filming that harasses Australians who want to vote, or that disrupts polling workers who are doing their job, will not be tolerated.
Conclusion
I thank the members of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters for delivering recommendations aimed at strengthening our democracy.
I thank former Committee Chair, the Member for Jagajaga, Kate Thwaites, for her dedicated work.
I thank the Special Minister of State, Senator Don Farrell, for delivering this Bill and these reforms for the Australian people.
I commend the Bill.