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Thursday, 9 February 2012
Page: 647

Senator FAULKNER (New South Wales) (18:15): I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I welcome this report by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters on the funding of political parties in election campaigns and I welcome the recommend­ations of the committee, which proposes a better, more transparent and more account­able system for the funding of political parties and election campaigns. I think it is important to remind the Senate that the first term of reference for this inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, which was agreed to by both the Senate and House of Representatives last May, was:

… options to improve the system for the funding of political parties and election campaigns, with particular reference to:

(a) issues raised in the Government’s Electoral Reform Green Paper - Donations, Funding and Expenditure, released in December 2008;

I think that that green paper, now more than three years old, stands the test of time. As Special Minister of State at that time, responsible for the production of the green paper, I remain very committed to addressing the challenges facing our electoral system that I identified then: the costs of election­eering leading to what I described as a 'campaigning arms race'; the adequacy of our electoral laws to deal with new media and new technologies; the rise of third-party participants in our electoral process and how their electoral activity should be regulated; and the complexity that we face with overlapping and confusing electoral systems for three tiers of government. In my introduction to the green paper I said:

In Australia, as in other democracies around the world, the potential for large and undisclosed sums of money in election and campaign financing has become more and more a matter of concern to the public. Perceptions of the potentially distorting nature of large donations—either cash or other resources—to political parties will degrade the public’s trust in the integrity of the political process. These perceptions of possible influence need not be only concerns about potential undue influence in the narrow sense of how government decisions are made, but in a broader sense: concerns that parties and politicians dependent on large donors will be if not compliant, then at least receptive, or that large donors may get access that others do not.

I went on:

The perception of undue influence can be as damaging to democracy as undue influence itself. It undermines confidence in our processes of government, making it difficult to untangle the motivation behind policy decisions. Electors are left wondering if decisions have been made on their merits.

In speeches I make to this chamber I rarely quote my own words and even more rarely do I quote my own words at such length, but I have done so on this occasion because I stand strongly by those words. I wanted to take this opportunity this evening to state clearly that, since I wrote those words, my commitment to reforming and improving our campaign and disclosure laws in Australia has not waned. Reform is desperately needed.

I want to see political parties and candidates subject to the toughest and most rigorous disclosure and accountability provi­sions possible in our electoral system. If that offends any vested interests on any side of politics, so be it. Frankly, I could not care less, because ensuring we have an electoral system of integrity in this country is paramount.

I also welcome the committee's clear support for the provisions of the Common­wealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill, which I originally introduced as Special Minister of State in 2008. That bill contained new disclosure and accountability proposals for which, despite my best efforts, I was unable to attain majority support in this chamber. Some of the measures contained in that bill—now, I am pleased to say, endorsed by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters—include reducing the current donation disclosure threshold from the current indexed $11,900 to a set, non-indexed figure of $1,000; eliminating of the donations-splitting loophole whereby donors can give multiple donations of just less than the donation disclosure threshold to all the different branches or divisions of a political party without having to disclose anything at all; banning of overseas donations, which are wholly acceptable in the Australian system but which most countries in the world outlaw; and reducing the reporting periods for participants in the electoral system. These are all important steps in the right direction. If enacted, they will make our electoral funding and disclosure system more transparent and more accountable.

I must say, in concluding my remarks, that it is very disappointing, although not surprising, that the opposition has stated its trenchant opposition to these important reforms in its dissenting report. That is very disappointing. Australian politics deserves better.