2016/21: Should there be a ban placed on foreign, corporate and union donations to political parties?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right:On August 23, 2016, the ABC News ran a report on current calls for the banning of overseas donations to Australian political parties. If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.
What they said...
We need to look long and hard at restricting donations to real people on the electoral roll. To that end, there should be no union donations, company donations or foreign donations... Obviously we don't want influence buying, we don't want subversion of our system'
Tony Abbott, former Prime Minister of Australia
'The system fails without activist citizens and organisations engaging and taking responsibility for political debate and action. That is why banning donations would stifle democracy'
Tim Ayres, the New South Wales secretary of the Australian Metal Workers Union (AMWU)
The issue at a glance
On September 7, 2016, Labor New South Wales senator, Sam Dastyari, quit as manager of opposition business in the Senate and shadow spokesman for consumer affairs, after it was revealed he may have broken Labor Party rules on political donations by allowing Chinese donors to make payments on his behalf for travel and legal bills.
On the same day, the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, renewed his support for restrictions to be placed on donations to Australian political parties.
Mr Turnbull argued that only those on the Australian electoral roll should be able to donate to political parties. Mr Turnbull claimed that this would exclude donations from foreign groups or individuals, as well as preventing corporations or trade unions from financially supporting political parties.
The Labor Party has rejected proposals that would see union donations banned; however, it supports a ban on foreign donations and is calling for continuous disclosure of donations and for donations of a smaller size to also be disclosed.
The Greens have also not supported a ban on union donations; however, they also want a ban on foreign donations and have called for strict caps on the size of donations from private individuals.
To this point there is no clear consensus on the issue beyond a call for foreign donations to political parties to be banned. This is despite criticisms of Australia's unregulated and undisclosed political donations relative to other comparable democracies.