DONATIONS & OTHER

DANGERS TO DEMOCRACY

WE ARE STANDING ON

ABORIGINAL LAND

OF THE

KABI KABI/GUBBI GUBBI

PEOPLE

Agenda

1. Revel Pointon, EDO Qld – overview of key threats of political donations and revolving door and current regulations

2. Cameron Murray, The Australia Institute – how ‘the game’ works and how we can stop it

3. Greg Smith and Melva Hobson, OSCAR – issues on the Sunshine Coast

4. Discussion and questions

About EDO Qld

• Non-government

• Non-profit community legal centre operating for over 25 years

• Part of a national network, EDOs of Australia

• Over 80% community funded (Thank you for helping us continue this work!)

How we can help you

Our lawyers provide:

1. Legal advice (free advice line)

2. Legal representation

3. Law and policy reform advocacy

4. Community education

What is democracy?

From Greeks: ‘Demos’: people ‘Kratos’: power or rule. = Rule/ power of the people

Australia is a representative democracy - eligible people vote for candidates to carry out the business of governing on their behalf.

What are key elements of democratic decision making?

• Representative of the population – public interest is considered in decision making

• Transparent – decision making processes are open to public

• Accountable – the public can be meaningfully involved in decision making and can question or test decisions

So, what’s the problem?

• Senator Matt Canavan, 2017: “It has been such an honour to represent the Australian mining sector over the past year”

• Tony Abbot, farewell speech to former industry minister Ian Macfarlane, calling on the mining industry to “acknowledge and demonstrate their gratitude to him in his years of retirement from this place”

Imagine….

• Your friend gives you a spare car, you need a car. A few months later, your friend asks you if she can borrow money. How do you make your decision?

• You’re a planning officer, your good friend from school puts in an application for a development, it will make your property value increase in the next door property. How do you make your decision?

Safeguards of democracy

Elections

Open government debate and Hansard

Codes of Conduct (that are enforceable)

Right to Information/ Freedom of Information

Submissions to government and committees

Appeal rights to independent courts

Media scrutiny, kind of

Unions and social movements …….

Current attack on advocacy by charities!

How are political donations regulated currently?

Federally:– Disclosure required of donations above $13,500

annually – Annual returns for donors and third party

campaigners– Election disclosures– Public funding scheme for parties and candidates

with over 4 percent of the primary vote, paid per vote (currently $268.30)

Is it working?

Excerpt from: 2 Feb 2018, Lindy Edwards, https://theconversation.com/the-truth-about-political-donations-there-is-so-much-we-dont-know-91003

Holes in federal regulation • $13,200 too high as disclosure threshold

• Large donations can be split between branches, or across multiple days

• No cap on amount that can be donated or who can give

• Reported once - annually, in February

• Do not need to distinguish between ‘donations’ and ‘other receipts’

Qld regulation of political donations

• Donation disclosure threshold - $1,000 • Donations to be disclosed within 7 days• Fundraising dinner/raffle tickets = disclosable

gift• Reporting required within 15 weeks of election• Unlawful to receive foreign gifts, or more than

$200/$1000 from an anonymous donor• Third party disclosure of $1,000+ expenditure

advocating voting or drawing attention to issue

Future Qld regulation…?

Possible ban on developer donations?

What about local government?

• Local Government Act – imposes Code of Conduct on public servants and obligations on Councillors

• Local Government Electoral Act – requirements around elections to prevent ‘corrupt conduct’

• Operation Belcarra – highlighted serious issues around elections

Local government election donations

• Candidates and groups of candidates must submit disclosure return after polling day – detailing donations and loans during period

• Real-time - within 7 days - donation disclosure is now required (since July 2017)

• Third parties who spent $ on political activities over threshold must also disclose

Local government – disclosing interests

• Register of interests must be kept for: – Councillors (including Mayors) and relatives– CEOs and relatives– Senior executive employees and relatives

• You can inspect register for Councillors but no one else.

• Includes: gifts of >$500, shares or controlling interests, officer positions in corporations etc

Councillors – Conflicts of interest

• Conflicts of interest: may exist if a decision is, or may be seen to be, influenced by the decision makers personal interests.

• Councillor’s must declare conflicts of interest

• And state how they intend to deal with the conflict – up to their discretion

• If they don’t – they may be guilty of misconduct.

• However, they can stay if they are needed to get voting quorum…

Councillors –Material personal interest

• Material personal interest: may exist if the councillor or certain related persons (eg a spouse or employer) will gain a benefit or suffer a loss, directly or indirectly, from the matter.

• Must “inform the meeting of” the interest and, generally, leave the room while the matter is discussed and voted on.

• Not legislated that donations should be considered a ‘material personal interest’… general business ?

Proposed legislation to implement Operation Belcarra

• Prohibits property developer donations to local government politicians

• ‘Prohibited donor’ = a property developer and their close associates, such as related corporations, directors and their spouses and any industry representative organisation whose members are mainly property developers.

• Also introduces: more disclosure, less discretion around managing conflicts of interest, delegation to CEO where Councillors have majority conflict

• Stay tuned for when it’s introduced! Have your say.

Safeguards against the ‘revolving door’

Federally and Queensland:

• Separate Register of Lobbyists – advisors and public servants cannot have dealings with unregistered lobbyists

• Lobbyists must disclosure info re. connections, previous senior government employment, who they work for etc

• Separate Lobbyist Code of Conduct e.g. must submit records of contact with government and opposition representatives monthly

How is the ‘revolving door’ regulated currently?

Federally: – 12 month restriction for Senior public servants to

‘engage in lobbying activities relating to any matter that they had official dealings with in their last 12 months of employment'.

– 18 month restriction for Cth Ministers and Parliamentary Secretary

Queensland: – 2 year restriction on senior government officials

https://www.forgov.qld.gov.au/system/files/documents/w-o-g-post-separation-provisions.pdf?v=1454302249

What more could Qld be doing?

• We must use, protect and fight for our legal rights and processes to help keep our government honest and working in the public interest

• How do you feel we could bring more accountability and transparency to government decision making?

• How can we better protect our democratic processes?

Thank you!

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