Clive Palmer vows High Court challenge to Labor election finance laws

The billionaire mining magnate has vowed to challenge Labor’s mooted election finance laws in the High Court, declaring the Albanese government is ‘eliminating democracy in Australia’.

Australian billionaire businessman Clive Palmer. Picture: Rohan Kelly/NewsWire

Billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer has vowed to challenge Labor’s proposed overhaul of election finance laws in the High Court, as the government attempts to clinch a deal with the Coalition to implement donation caps and spending limits.

“What Albo is effectively doing is he is eliminating democracy in Australia,” Mr Palmer told The Weekend Australian, arguing it would prevent “ordinary citizens” from being elected to federal parliament.

“It’s an individual citizen’s right under the Constitution that they should be able to stand for parliament and bring whatever resources he wants to.

“The only hope for Australian people is if the High Court looks at the Constitution and the implied rights of freedom of speech.”

The litigious Mineralogy boss on Friday also rejected the government’s claims that big-spending donors, including himself, had previously influenced election results, instead claiming the message of his United Australia Party, to which he donated $117m during the 2022 election campaign, had resonated with voters.

“Money doesn’t buy you elections,” he declared. “If it did, I’d be the prime minister today.

“Labor and the Coalition … they’ve got all the union money, they’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars of assets, that’s the reality. There has to be some equilibrium to let other ideas flow through.”

Unveiled by Special Minister of State Don Farrell, the laws would cap at $20,000 per calendar year the amount state party branches or independent candidates can receive from individual donors or organisations, while spending will also be limited in a seat at $800,000.

While a final agreement hasn’t been reached between Labor and the Coalition, a deal could be reached within the next sitting fortnight, allowing the legislation to be passed, taking effect by mid-2026.

“This is designed to take money out of Australian politics … We do not want to go down the track of the American election system,” Senator Farrell said in a press conference on Friday.

Senator Farrell rejected the claim that the reforms would result in the election of fewer independents, and pointed to Australia’s Westminster system of government, which has historically been dominated by two major parties.

However, independents and the Greens questioned the intent of Labor’s changes, with ACT independent senator David Pocock arguing the proposed electoral finance regime risked “locking in incumbency”.

“For people who actually want to represent their community, it is going to be harder and harder,” he said.

That view was shared by Greens senator Larissa Waters, who argued any changes that advantaged Labor and the Coalition would constitute “a rort, not a reform”.

Teal MP Monique Ryan, who during the 2022 election spent $2.1m to unseat then treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the blue-ribbon Victorian seat of Kooyong, said the case for the expedited passage of the bill had not been made.

“It is deeply disappointing that there has been so little discussion over these very major changes with the crossbench, while it’s clear that there has been substantial input from the opposition on the development of this legislation,” she said.