Money far from silent in Premier’s blatant fundraising U-turn

For a move further obscuring political influence in Queensland, the premier’s U-turn to again offer even the appearance of access to her ministers for those willing to pay is oddly transparent.

Since Annastacia Palaszczuk made what she painted as a principled decision to ban herself and her frontbench from so-called cash-for-access fundraisers last July, the LNP has outpaced Labor on donations by a factor of four.

“To put it simply, voters will not have to worry about whether money talks. So-called cash for access will be gone,” Palaszczuk said first announcing the recent electoral reforms in 2019.Credit: James Brickwood

While not all attributed to the LNP’s own business-focused fundraising program, that party has raked in more than $752,000 since July 1 compared to the little over $167,000 flowing to Labor.

Annastacia Palaszczuk herself is yet to personally give an explanation for her decision to climb off the high-horse she had immediately taken aim at the LNP from before council and state elections next year.

This has instead left Labor’s state secretary Kate Flanders to spell it out. “The LNP has a similar program. I think it’s important we have a level playing field,” Flanders told News Corp.

The new Labor scheme – dubbed the Business Roundtable Program – will put up internal party figures, along with those across councils, state and federal government, as drawcards for a series of monthly “boardroom-style” lunches and dinners for a $10,000 (plus GST) annual fee.

(That sum is where things start for those keen to rub shoulders with LNP figures, with those annual packages reaching $25,000 plus GST at the top tier).

While said to differ in parts from the earlier Labor Business Partnership Network in an attempt to stamp out long-running concerns about paid access to government decision-makers, these are notoriously difficult things to capture on paper through official diaries or lobbying registers.

The letter, seen by this reporter, sent out by Labor Party HQ to the state’s business leaders also blurs this line a little while ensuring things are above board around electoral laws.

“Hearing your direct feedback” is pitched as one of the key features of the program for business and industry with “ideas for our state’s future”, though in an “ethical and transparent” way.

Graeme Orr, a law professor with the University of Queensland, said this was ultimately how the stop-start programs work: giving at least the appearance of access to politicians while allowing businesses to tell shareholders they’re not making political donations, even if they accept they’re giving to the cause.

And “political” donations they are not, which under Queensland’s relatively well-regarded electoral laws are capped at $4000 for political parties and $6000 for candidates and fenced off for state election campaign efforts only.

The cash instead pours into the party organisations, “gifts” which remain uncapped and can be used for general administration costs of the parties, such as staff wages, but also council elections. But anything handed to the parties worth more than $1000 is disclosed in real time.

Announcing her decision to withdraw ministers from the party’s business program last year, alongside new limits for political donations and boosted public election cash for parties, Palaszczuk said the reforms “would end the days of big money fundraising”.

“To put it simply, voters will not have to worry about whether money talks. So-called cash for access will be gone,” she said first announcing the reforms three years earlier.

If it’s not talking, the money’s sure still doing something.