“Snouts in the Trough” – Senators oppose “Electoral Reform” bill

ANTHONY KLAN

The Federal Government’s “biggest reform in 40 years” to electoral donation laws has been pushed back for debate in the Senate until tomorrow.

Proposed amendments to the Electoral Reform Bill suggests that some Senators hold a level of distrust regarding the proposed new laws.

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has moved an amendment to change the title of the Bill – from the “Electoral Reform Bill” to the “Sham Democracy Bill”.

“Amendments to be moved by Senator Thorpe…Clause 1, page 1 (lines 6 and 7), omit “Electoral Reform”, substitute “Sham Democracy”, states Thorpe’s proposed amendment.

Separately, Senator Fatima Payman has moved an amendment to change the Bill’s title to the “Compromising Our Rightful Representation and Undermining Political Trust Bill”.

“Amendments to be moved by Senator Payman….omit ‘Electoral Reform’, substitute ‘Compromising Our Rightful Representation and Undermining Political Trust’,” states Payman’s proposed amendment.

Senator Jacqui Lambie, “on behalf of the Jacqui Lambie Network”, has also moved an amendment to change the title of the Bill.

It states: “Clause 1, page 1 (lines 6 and 7), omit ‘Electoral Reform’, substitute ‘Snouts in the Trough’ [short title]”.

Senator Lambie’s proposed amendment. Source: Australian Senate (Image top: Jacquie Lambie. Source: ABC News/Luke Bowden)

Yesterday Independent Senator David Pocock reiterated his opposition to the Bill.

“Don’t fall for the major party line that they’re trying to get big money out of politics – we all want to see that – what they’re doing is trying to entrench the two party system and suffocate competition,” Pocock said.

The ALP Federal Government pushed the highly-complex 227-page Electoral Reform Bill through the lower house late last year, just 48 hours after releasing it.

The ALP and Coalition have voted down calls for the Bill to be examined by a parliamentary committee, as is standard practice, despite there being no rush to pass the law, which would not take effect until “mid-2026”.

The Bill would reduce the donations “disclosure threshold” from $16,900 to $1,000 and introduce “real time” disclosure of donations – with both proposals sharing very high levels of public support.

Yet experts say the Bill includes other major changes, including around campaign expenditure caps, that heavily favour the ALP and Coalition and would the entrench status-quo and hogtie independents from parliament.

As as result, the Bill has been widely criticised by experts, including the Centre for Public Integrity — a think-tank founded by a group of top former judges — and Transparency International, who have officially called for it to be scrapped in its current form.

The Greens and many Independents have called on the government to pass those parts of the bill that improve transparency but not the parts that would “rig the system” in favour of the ALP and Coalition.

Yet as revealed by The Klaxon this week, even those parts of the Bill that have apparently had the backing of independents and the Greens contain some serious concerns for democracy and transparency.

Changes — found on page 157 of the Bill — would enshrine in law the biggest censorship of political “donations” information in the nation’s history, under claims of “privacy”.

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The Klaxon’s revelations yesterday. Source: The Klaxon

Under the changes, “disclosure” forms filed by donors, political parties and others would be permanently hidden from the public.

That’s despite the information having been publicly available since the Commonwealth Electoral Act was created in 1918.

Neither the Government or the Australian Electoral Commission has consulted the public over the proposed changes, which would make it effectively impossible to determine the true source of many donors.

The “donations” system is regularly gamed, including by entities making payments through shell companies and obscure PO box addresses.

The changes would mean the AEC only provides a sub-set of information it has scraped from the returns and separately published on its “Transparency Register”, which it can change at any time.

More from The Klaxon:

Feb 4 – PM in secretive push for mass “donations” censorship

Feb 2 – Vast censorship of political “donations” data

Jan 30 – Labor Party rigs “donations” laws

The AEC would no longer provide to the public any of the returns documents — including donor returns, political party returns, “associated third party” returns, and “amended” returns — and would not provide key information including the “addresses” provided by donor entities.

In many cases — particularly where donors make payments via shell companies and PO Box addresses — this material is essential in establishing the true identity of donors.

Uncensored donor forms were vital to media investigations unmasking the true identities of the bankrollers of “Advance”, which ran the “No” campaign against the Voice.

Advance claimed to be a “grassroots” movement of “ordinary Aussies”, when in fact it was bankrolled by a handful of mega-millionaires.

The now hidden electoral donations data was vital in establishing the true donors behind the Voice “No” campaign. Source: The Klaxon

The AEC has said it proposed the changes because of “a number of privacy factors”, however it has repeatedly refused to comment when asked what those “privacy factors” were.

In May last year the AEC announced an AEC error from four years earlier had meant the addresses of 17 electorate candidates that were “silent” from the electoral role had been publicly accessed.

The AEC had failed to remove the information from the “candidate returns” it had posted to its Transparency Portal, regarding candidates “silent” from the electoral role.

Despite that error having been rectified, it involving only a handful of electoral candidates — and the Australian Federal Police stating “it is not aware of any personal safety incidents as a result of the data breach” — the AEC is using its past error as the reason to make all returns hidden from the public.

Proposed changes to the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, hiding all returns from the public. Source: Page 157, Electoral Reform Bill

The AEC is not only seeking to permanently hide all candidate returns, but all returns, including donor returns, party returns, “associated third-party” returns and “amended” returns.

The Klaxon is preparing to shortly publish an expose revealing the behind-the-scenes moves engaged in by the Federal Government and the AEC in the attempt to enshrine this mass censorship into law.

The New York Times has described Australia as potentially “the world’s most secretive democracy”.

Between 2012 and 2022 no other OECD country fell faster towards corruption than Australia, according to Transparency International.

Support for the ALP and Coalition has been in long-term decline and is at its lowest point in history.

The Senate said proposed “amendments” from Senators to the Electoral Reform Bill had been shared with members.

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Anthony Klan

Editor, The Klaxon