Media Releases

A Bad Bill But Hope For The Future [21st Jun, 2006]
by Senator Andrew Murray

The Australian Democrats are alarmed that the Coalition used its Senate numbers to reject every single non-Government amendment to pass the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2006 in the Senate. However, although that bad bill is now law, there is hope for the future.
"The Democrats are dismayed that the Coalition again refused to pass major amendments that we moved to improve the integrity of Australia's funding and disclosure legislation. In fact, after this Bill, the disclosure rules in Federal electoral law will be far worse," said Senator Andrew Murray, Democrats Electoral Spokesperson.
"However we took comfort from the commitment by Labor to improve the political donations disclosure system. When they are next in government in Australia, their votes on amendments to this Bill indicate that hidden multiple donations, and foreign loans and donations will be prohibited.
"The Democrats remember well that against a Coalition desire to maintain a secret and unaccountable donations system in 1984, federal Labor with the support of the Democrats introduced a far better disclosure regime. Labor 'stepped up to the plate' again in this debate.
"The non government political parties all opposed:
early closure of the rolls which will disenfranchise tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of Australians;
increasing the disclosure threshold from $1 500 to $10 000; and
Allowing multiple donations to be undisclosed, meaning separate donations from the same donor to nine divisions of the same political party will be undisclosed, up to $90 000.
"The Coalition even voted against ensuring that annual returns on funding disclosure should be legible.
"Our hope is that the next Labor government will act swiftly to overturn the worst aspects of the changes in this Bill and will introduce far more transparent funding and disclosure rules. The Coalition have confirmed in this debate that there is no hope for better standards under them," concluded Senator Murray.