The Electoral Reform Bill, passed in February 2025, will substantially improve transparency of political donations when it comes into effect from 1 July 2026.
The Bill lowers the donations disclosure threshold from $16,900 to $5,000, and requires donations to be disclosed within seven days during an election period, and within two months at other times. These long overdue reforms mean Australians will know who’s donating while policy issues – and elections – are still ‘live’.
The Bill also introduces caps on donations and electoral expenditure. Capping electoral expenditure will help to reduce the fundraising ‘arms race’ between parties, and their subsequent reliance on major donors. Donations caps help to limit the influence that any single interest can hold over the national debate.
These are important reforms, but substantial problems remain with the current design. The total cap of $90 million for electoral expenditure by a political party is too high. And the per-seat cap of $800,000 is too low, advantaging incumbents over new entrants. A loophole in the design of the donations cap also advantages major parties by allowing the cap to apply separately to each branch of a party.
We recommend that Parliament amend the electoral reforms to close remaining loopholes and level the playing field for new entrants.
There are also further opportunities to reduce the influence of money in politics.
Greater transparency around lobbying would provide an additional check on donor influence. Ministerial diaries should be published, so voters know who our most senior policy makers are meeting. And the lobbyist register should be broader so that it includes in-house lobbyists, not just commercial lobbyists. This would make it possible to identify which major donors are also active lobbyists, and what they are lobbying for.