How much has corporate influence and quid pro quo governance infected the Australian political environment? Hot tip, more than you’d think. 🧵

#auspol #integritymatters

1/ Some background:

The current Commonwealth lobbying regime represents what the Auditor-General calls a "light-touch approach." Regulated parties and activities are unduly limited, and there is no transparency of lobbying activity.

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Where did the biggest donors send their money in the 2021/22 election year?

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#aupol #politicaldonations 2/

Breakdown of top 10 donors to the Coalition, Labor and the Greens in 2021/22

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#auspol #politicaldonations Representing $6,195,533 of $19,542,211 given in donations to the Coalition in 2021-22 (31.7 per cent)

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In 2022 the top 10 individual donors contributed $137.5 million to parties and independents, which equates to 76.9% of all donations given in the year.

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#auspol #politicaldonations Campaign spending for the 2022 Federal Election remained at record-high levels, reaching $439.4 million.

This is arguably the highest federal election spend on record, seeing as the 2018-19 financial year also included Victorian and NSW state elections.

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Analysis of donations declared to the AEC over 22 years from 1998/1999-2019/2020 shows that:

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#auspol #politicaldonations The Australian Labor Party was the largest fundraiser, raising $564.25 million;

💰33.15% of ALP donations came from associated entities
💰29.59% from associated unions
💰6.91% from the property industry

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New research by the Centre shows that big donors are having a disproportionate impact on our political parties and elections.

A thread featuring our key findings:

#auspol #politicaldonations

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buff.ly/3JsC9pV The top 5% of unique donors over the entire period contributed 76.4% of all donations (total concentration across all years).

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Last year we created donation profiles for each political party with data ranging from 1998/99-2019/2020. This thread has some key screenshots and links to each corresponding party.

The Coalition:

(buff.ly/3HjHZHw )

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#auspol #whopaysthepiper Labor

buff.ly/3HjHZHw

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On Wednesday, the AEC will release the annual donations data showing who funded the last election.
The Commonwealth has the weakest donation laws in the country. A🧵on how to fix this.

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#auspol 1. Campaign spending caps

A set amount. For political parties/candidates and third parties. That makes participation achievable for independents and smaller parties. Follow the NSW model of setting an electorate and national cap.

There are no limits on electoral expenditure at the Commonwealth level in Australia, which means that political parties and their associated entities can spend and raise unlimited amounts of money in their effort to be elected.

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#auspol This lack of expenditure caps can lead to an uneven playing field, where well-funded parties and candidates have an advantage over those with fewer resources.

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How do the state/territory and Federal anti-corruption bodies compare?

1. JURISDICTION

#auspol 2. REFERRALS AND COMPLAINTS

We've been working our way through the submissions to the Senate Committee re the NACC.

Leading constitutional law academic Prof Anne Twomey AO is a highlight.

A short thread:

#auspol #auslaw Prof Twomey is very strong on the importance of public hearings.

She makes the case around several key themes:

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We’ve compared the integrity frameworks around Australia and have developed a 5 step roadmap for Victoria to improve integrity.

A thread…

1/ 👀 Vested interests and the influence of money 👀

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3rd parties, such as corporations and unions, are not subject to an expenditure cap.

Why is this important?

A thread:

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#auspol Pending the level of electoral expenditure 3rd parties are required to submit electoral expenditure returns as either a ‘third party’ or a ‘significant third party’

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This thread breaks down the trends in electoral expenditure since 1998 (start of data collection).

TL:DR it’s growing. A lot.

Which is concerning. Because big money has the potential to wield undue influence on Australian politics.

#auspol

1/ Before we get into the data a quick note. The Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) does not require political parties to disclose their electoral expenditure to the AEC.

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The work, by the Centre for Public Integrity, will be put to the parliamentary committee that is examining the conduct of this year’s election when it holds public hearings on issues including donations... (cont)

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#auspol

theage.com.au/politics/feder… ...voting rules and whether it is possible to pass laws to stop campaign lies.

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One of the major pushbacks to public hearings has been the concept of “reputational damage.”

This thread breaks down this idea in 7 parts

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#auspol #auslaw In all investigations since 2012 which have involved public hearings, the NSW ICAC has made findings of corrupt conduct or serious corrupt conduct against at least one primary suspect.

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"...when it comes to money and politics, Australia is now an electoral straggler at the federal level. It has fallen significantly behind the states and other comparable advanced democracies."

~ Chair Anthony Whealy and Research Officer Max Douglass

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theguardian.com/australia-news… "It maintains no caps on donations, an unsophisticated and ungainly public funding system, and, unlike many of the states and both territories, no caps on electoral expenditure."

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"The clumsy insertion of the “exceptional circumstances” clause at the last minute sits uncomfortably with these protections...(cont)"

~ Board member Stephen Charles AO KC

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#auspol

michaelwest.com.au/power-corrupti… "It invites wealthy litigants to challenge in court a public hearing, as not involving circumstances that are “exceptional”."

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Public hearings expose corruption to the public and make investigations more effective. They are not show trials.

A thread

#auspol

1/ NSW ICAC has exposed more corruption to the public than the Victorian IBAC, with 42 public hearings and 39 public reports compared to 8 hearings and 14 reports from 2012/13-2019/20;

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Public hearings fulfil important functions in corruption investigations. They are not show trials.

A thread on the important role they play:

#auspol #auslaw

1/ Public hearings expose corruption. Exposing corruption to the public is a core objective of integrity commissions, as corruption flourishes in the dark.

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“This is like good healthcare,” @helenhainesindi says. “You want to prevent it before it happens … It would be far better to make sure that all public officials are educated in a way that they are alert to the possibilities of corrupt conduct.”

#auspol

thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/… 👏👏👏👏