Federal Labor’s plan for strengthening our democracy through political donations reform is focused on transparency and accountability.  Voters deserve to know who is donating to political parties, how much and when.

Labor has two bills currently before the Senate which would lower the federal disclosure threshold from the current $14,500 to a fixed $1,000 and require donations to be disclosed within seven days.  This will mean that voters have this information when they go to cast their ballot and not have to wait up to 19 months to find out who is funding political parties as they do at present.

These reforms build on Labor’s record on political donations which has a long and proud history.

It was Labor, under Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1983, that first introduced a political donations disclosure regime, where donations above $1,000 had to be declared. It was a Liberal Government which later increased this to $10,000 and linked the threshold to inflation, causing it to blow out to the current $14,500.

It was Labor’s amendments that successfully linked public election funding to campaign expenditure, preventing parties from profiting from the electoral system.

And it was Labor that forced the Liberal/National Government to ban foreign political donations, protecting our democracy from foreign interference.

Labor is committed to strengthening our democracy and enhancing the integrity of our political processes and institutions. Labor is on the side of accountability and transparency in government.