Talking Point: A battle of big ideas, not big bank accounts

ELLA HADDAD: Tasmania must limit donations to election campaigns

IN a modern Tasmania where we are asked to trust that governments of any persuasion are not only progressive but transparent, there’s one area of crucial accountability where we lag — appallingly — far behind the rest of the nation.

Tasmania has the weakest, least accountable laws in Australia on the disclosure of donations to political parties and candidates.

We should not only be questioning who is funding our political parties and our candidates, we should also be demanding change.

The fact there is such a blatant lack of transparency on political donations — and that Tasmania is so retrograde when compared with states like Queensland where an Electronic Disclosure System updates donations in real time — really is not acceptable in today’s political climate.

I have no doubt most Tasmanians would be surprised to learn candidates for Tasmanian state elections are not required to divulge any donations they receive, no matter how large they are or who they are from. The only disclosure rule applying to state elections is a requirement under Commonwealth law for political parties — not candidates — to make annual declarations of donations over $13,200.

That’s not good enough in a political landscape that allows for one party to build a million dollar-plus advertising war chest, donated from big business, to campaign against an issue like poker machines.

The need for change is urgent. To ensure public confidence in the political process I believe all candidates — candidates that included myself — as well as political parties should have to disclose donations above $1000.

And, like in other jurisdictions, it’s imperative these disclosures be made in real time, with rolling disclosures each fortnight.

As part of the Government’s current review of the Electoral Act, Tasmanian Labor has submitted that our state needs a more robust electoral system as an important basis of our democracy. Labor is firm in our belief that the community must have confidence in the systems in place, to guarantee their integrity.

It is a critical, basic tenet of a functioning democracy that political parties and candidates for election are free — and perceived to be free — from undue influence.

It is often the case that significant amounts of money are spent in election campaigns but people do not know where that money is sourced. Tasmanians have the right to know who is funding political activities and there should be regulations to provide a level playing field for everyone.

The fact of the matter is that nobody will know — and nobody is required to divulge — how much was spent during the 2018 state election campaign and we won’t know how much was dished out for the Liberals’ big-spending advertising campaign, until next year when the dust has well and truly settled.

That’s why third parties should have to account for their spending when it has a direct impact on the electoral process. Other states and territories already require this of political parties and candidates.

Tasmanian Labor also supports expenditure caps for parties and candidates. Candidates should be limited in what they can spend, just as candidates in Legislative Council elections are.

Elections should be fairer and campaigns should be a battle of ideas, not a battle of bank accounts.

It’s simply not an even playing field when one candidate may have a campaign budget of a few thousand dollars, while others have hundreds of thousands.

In our submission to the review of the Electoral Act, Tasmania Labor has recommended candidates for elections to the House of Assembly should be limited to spending a maximum of $100,000 and candidates for the Legislative Council should have a spending cap of $30,000. Political parties and registered third parties should also have spending caps of $1 million and $100,000 respectively. This is a reflection of longstanding Tasmanian Labor policy.

We have argued for electoral reform over many years and we hope the current review will bring about long-overdue changes to strengthen democracy and transparency in Tasmania.

Denison state MP Ella Haddad is Labor’s justice spokeswoman.