In recent times there has been increasing parliamentary and media scrutiny of Australia’s system of political donations.
At the New South Wales level, there has been exposure of property developers attempting to circumvent existing laws which preclude them from donating to political parties. At the Federal level, there is virtually an ongoing saga concerning the source of political donations; suggestions of political favours being given in return for financial support; the whole manner in which political donations are declared on the public record; and instances of failure to disclose political donations.
Senator Sam Dastyari demoted himself within Labor party ranks by resigning as a shadow front bencher due to issues arising out of support he received from Chinese donors. He failed to explain why a political donation was used to clear a personal debt.
All of the commentary on political donations would suggest that we have a system that isn’t working, either in the nature of the rules or in their observance.
This is not any easy area to reform. For example, if we ban donations from foreign sources does that necessarily eliminate funds from those sources being channelled through Australian agents? If we ban donations from organisations, then we sideline all financial support from the corporate sector and from the trade union movement.
We have a political system that has most political parties reliant on substantial levels of political donations in order to pursue their agendas. Most reforms to the sources of political donations would reduce the flow of those funds and place a correspondingly higher burden on taxpayers.
Probably the most effective, immediate reform to cure some of the ills of the system would be to move to requiring real time disclosure of political donations.
At least all interested parties could then observe the sources of funding and then form their own judgment on whether that funding affected the policy positions adopted by the parties.
John Clarke is the Solicitor Director of Clarke Law with a local network of offices in Narooma, Bermagui.