Future Tassie: Tasmanians want greater transparency on political donation laws

Pressure is mounting on the Government to overhaul electoral donation laws with calls for greater transparency on political parties’ funding.

Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman. Picture: AAP

PRESSURE is mounting on the Tasmanian Government to overhaul the state’s electoral donation laws after a majority of people surveyed called for greater transparency from political parties on the funding they receive.

About 94 per cent of 1362 respondents to the Mercury’s Future Tassie survey said they wanted the state’s parties to be more transparent about the donations they were handed.

The strong response comes as Tasmanians remain in the dark about the cash given to political parties ahead of the March 2018 state election, with no requirement for donations to be disclosed until next month.

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The Australia Institute Tasmania director Leanne Minshull congratulated the Tasmanian Government on its ongoing review of the state’s Electoral Act but urged the Liberals to also examine how to provide greater transparency through other means, including through easier access to right to information requests, better resourcing the Integrity Commission and allowing the public greater access to government ministers.

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The Left-leaning public policy think-tank was behind an open letter that called on the state’s political parties to disclose donations from the gambling industry ahead of the state election.

“It’s not a surprise that this many people are concerned,” Ms Minshull said.

“Whether you like engaging with politics or not, politicians make decisions that affect Tasmanian lives every day.”

Tasmanian Election Inquiry member Roland Browne said his group — formed last year in response to concerns about third-party influence on the state election result — wanted “serious reform” of disclosure laws and an end to corporate and industry donations to political parties.

“People need to know, as we move to an election, where the money’s coming from,” Mr Browne, also Gun Control Australia chairman, said.

The Grattan Institute slammed Tasmania’s electoral donation laws as the nation’s worst in a report released in September last year. The state has the same laws as the Commonwealth, meaning only donations worth $13,800 or more have to be declared. This compares to a $1000 threshold in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.

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As well, parties in Tasmania are not required to aggregate smaller donations from the same donor that would bring them over the threshold, and does not require parties to declare donations made in a financial year until the following February.

Queensland, South Australia and the ACT require parties to declare donations within one week, and NSW and Victoria ask parties to provide their receipts within 21 days.

A government spokesman reaffirmed the Liberals’ commitment to reviewing the state’s Electoral Act and invited Tasmanians to have their say on an interim report examining the issue released last month.

“The Government has a very strong record of enhancing the routine disclosure of information across all government departments,” the spokesman said.

“This includes the first regular disclosure of ministerial spending, online disclosure of parliamentarians’ register of interests and the publication of all right to information to disclosures within 48 hours of issue.”