Property developer donation ban to take effect from today

Property developers will be banned from donating money to state and local government politicians from today, in the lead-up to the next state election.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk introduced the Local Government Electoral (Implementing Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill on Thursday, and declared the ban would apply retrospectively - effective Thursday.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has introduced a bill banning political donations from property developers.

The retrospectivity would take effect if the bill was passed by Parliament - and then parties would be required to pay back any money received from property developers within that time period.

Parties and candidates could technically still receive property developer donations in the hopes the bill did not pass the Parliament, but they would be taking a risk that they would need to pay the money back.

It means the donation ban would effectively be in force for the upcoming election campaign if it was held before the bill passed, which was possible as the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee was asked to report back by November 27.

It has been suggested the election date could be November 18, or it could also be next year. The election must be held by May 2018.

The last sitting of Parliament for the year is November 28 to 30, so the bill could be brought on for debate then.

Ms Palaszczuk has previously indicated she wanted the bill to go through the committee process, which meant it would not be rushed through this sitting week.

Labor stopped taking donations from property developers on Friday.

It comes after the Crime and Corruption Commission recommended property developer donations be banned at the local government level, following Operation Belcarra, which investigated corruption allegations.

The government has endorsed all 31 recommendations from the CCC's Operation Belcarra report, some in full and others in principle.

Ms Palaszczuk announced she would extend the ban to the state government level as well.

"This is an important step, given the state is also involved in development assessment, whether it be through environmental approvals or the power to call in a development if it involves a state interest," she said.

A "prohibited donor" will include a property developer and their close associates, such as related corporations, directors and their spouses and any industry representative organisation whose members are mainly property developers.

If a person accepted a prohibited donation, the state would be able to recover up to twice the amount or value of the donation.

The bill will also introduce requirements for additional information to be included when a councillor declared a conflict of interest in a matter.

Ms Palaszczuk said the government was resolute in its commitment to improve transparency and integrity at all levels of government.

"As elected representatives, we all hold positions of considerable responsibility," she said.

"We must always act in a way that reflects the trust that has been placed in us by our communities."

Ms Palaszczuk said the majority of Queensland councillors and mayors were doing exceptional work.

"But the system is not perfect and when problems are identified, we should address them," she said.

The LNP has called for the donation ban to be applied to unions as well.

But Ms Palaszczuk said the CCC stated other types of donors did not demonstrate the same risk of actual or perceived corruption in Queensland local government as property developers.

The bill comes after a special Labor caucus meeting was held on Thursday.