$60 million bill for taxpayers as Andrews Government tries to lock in election funding reforms

TAXPAYERS will fork out a whopping $60 million to political parties in Victoria next term under the Andrews Government’s controversial donation laws.

TAXPAYERS will fork out $60 million to political parties in Victoria after the next election under the Andrews Government’s controversial donation laws.

The reforms were initially slated to cost $45 million over four years to cover the costs of political campaigning while capping corporate donations and banning foreign donations.

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But a deal between Labor and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party saw the costs blow out by $8 million by delivering more cash to minor parties and independents.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal parties will also be able to “double dip” into public funding next term.

Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings with Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Alex Coppel.

They will get money back for the votes they win at the November election, paid under the current election funding regime, as well as receiving prepaid funding for the 2022 election under the new laws.

The double dipping was slammed by Gordon Rich-Phillips, the deputy Liberal leader in the Legislative Council, during a parliamentary ­debate when he said this would add $7 million to next term’s taxpayer tab.

“There is the double benefit in this first election cycle between 2018 and 2022 of getting the old funding structure and a prepayment on the new funding structure,” he said.

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Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings said parties still had to acquit the money they were spending, but that the new laws would allow for “continuous campaigning”.

“Party organisations … would prefer to have the ability to campaign continuously during the course of an election cycle and not to have to wait four years for the recouping of that expenditure,” he said.

It comes as the Sunday Herald Sun can also reveal the backroom details of the Coalition’s decision to flip from supporting the legislation to opposing it.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. AAP Image/Alex Murray

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, who had previously indicated lukewarm support for the laws, allowed his team to speak freely during a shadow Cabinet meeting.

While Member for Warrandyte Ryan Smith backed the government’s plan, many MPs spoke against it, with some fearing it would give the Victorian Liberal Party’s ­administrative chiefs too much control over their campaign cash.

After weighing up the sentiment in the room, Mr Guy backed the majority and the Coalition reversed its support for the laws.

Several Liberal MPs said while the party broadly opposed public funding for election campaigns, their backbench members would have been more supportive of the government’s laws because they reduced the pressure to secure donations.

The overhaul will likely pass when Parliament returns this month after deals done to secure crossbench support.

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