Overview
- The Labor government introduced replacement legislation this week to repair laws the High Court quashed on April 15 by setting new donation caps, banning foreign donations, requiring real-time disclosure and restoring public funding.
- Under the draft bill individual donation caps would be $7,500 per four-year term and $15,000 for designated new candidates, with anonymous gifts banned above $1,250 and faster reporting rules for larger donations.
- The draft requires parties to refund nominated-entity transfers that remained unspent in old state campaign accounts on April 15, with repayments tied to the November 28 state election deadline.
- Enforcement problems are likely because major parties historically commingled nominated-entity money with other campaign funds, making it hard to prove which transfers were already spent.
- The Coalition and successful High Court challengers have signalled new constitutional challenges and crossbench support is conditional, while the bill mandates an independent review of donation laws after the election.