AWU donation affair: regulate GetUp! like political party, says Coalition

The Liberal and Nationals federal directors say activist group GetUp! should be regulated like a political party.

Nationals federal director Ben Hindmarsh.

The Liberal and Nationals federal directors say left-wing activist group GetUp! should be regulated like a political party, warning that a failure to update the rules could jeopardise the “integrity of the electoral process”.

The warning came as GetUp! yesterday lobbied supporters for funds to resist any moves that could strip the organisation of its independent status and classify it as an “associated entity” of Labor and the Greens.

GetUp! has attacked the integrity of the Australian Electoral Commission for examining its status, saying the process was “stacked against us” and relied upon “cherrypicked facts and twisted legal interpretations”.

Being classed as an “associated entity” would impose stricter disclosure obligations on GetUp! and require it to produce its total receipts, total payments, total debts, outstanding debt as well as deposits from which any payments to political parties were generated.

Liberal Party federal director Andrew Hirst said GetUp!’s activities were “directly aimed at influencing election outcomes in Australia and causing damage to the non-Labor side of politics”.

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In a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, Mr Hirst said GetUp!’s “starkly party-political” activism meant it should be “subject to a regulatory regime comparable to that which is applied to political parties”.

“There are numerous examples of GetUp! personally targeting ­individual non-Labor MPs and seeking their removal from parliament,” he said.

“In both 2014-15 and 2015-16, GetUp!’s political expenditure ­exceeded $10 million.”

Ahead of last year’s federal election, GetUp! launched campaigns against nine Coalition MPs, who it described as “blockers” and claimed were doing the bidding of “big business, the coal lobby and right-wing groups”.

The activists’ key targets were Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Queensland MP George Christensen and Andrew Nikolic, who lost the Tasmanian seat of Bass. Other MPs targeted included Michael Sukkar, Barnaby Joyce, Jamie Briggs and Kevin Andrews.

How-to-vote cards prepared by GetUp! listed the ALP and Greens ahead of Coalition MPs, with the group also running newspaper ­advertisements and billboards against targeted MPs in some electorates.

Nationals federal director Ben Hindmarsh argued the growing influence and campaigning power of third-party organisations was increasing despite the fact they were not subject to the same regulation as political parties and candidates.

In a separate submission to the JSCEM on behalf of the Nationals, Mr Hindmarsh said: “This is illogical, inequitable and threatens the integrity of the electoral process.

“If political parties are regulated, third-party participants in the electoral process must also be similarly regulated.”

In its own submission, GetUp! noted that, as a “third party”, it was already required to make annual disclosures over the threshold amount — set at $13,200 in 2016-17 — as well as all political expenditure in addition to the authorisation of any political material.

“These requirements are not dissimilar to those that apply to political parties and associated entities,” it said.

GetUp! also used the submission to make what it called an “additional financial disclosure” to provide “better insight into GetUp!” and “dispel false speculation” into how it operated and sourced its funds.

In line with the obligations on associated entities, GetUp! disclosed its total receipts at the end of the 2016-17 year of $8.5 million; total payments of $8.5m; total debt of zero, with unpaid bills of $494,00 (all paid before the due date); no political donations ­(either received or paid) as well as more than $549,000 in receipts other than donations — including commercial transactions.

The AEC is examining the merits of whether GetUp! should be classed as an “associated entity” after it was asked to look into the issue by West Australian Liberal MP Ben Morton at a public hearing in November 2016.

Mr Morton told The Australian yesterday that, since GetUp! had already provided the additional ­financial information in its most recent submission to the JSCEM, he could see no issue with classifying the group as an associated ­entity.

“They squeal about the potential of disclosing at a higher level like political parties, but they’ve publicly provided such information in their submission,” he said. “It is a campaigning shop and should not operate in a less transparent environment.”

In an email sent to supporters yesterday, GetUp! national Director Paul Oosting said the AFP “could knock on our door seizing computers, phones and files, effectively disrupting critical campaigns on corporate tax cheats, the Reef and social justice.”

The group is asking supporters to “chip in $12” to help “protect against the government’s strong-arm tactics to stifle dissent” as it faces the possibility of being reclassified as an “associated entity” of Labor and the Greens.

The email comes on the heels of Tuesday’s AFP raids on the Victorian and national offices of the Australian Workers Union.