Secrecy surrounds report into submissions on donations

In a bid to make electoral donations more transparent, the government commissioned a report – which it is keeping secret.  

Public submissions on ways the government could reduce the secrecy surrounding electoral donations have been kept secret for the past 12 months.

The government said the submissions were still being considered to help it produce a report that it said was also finished — but is being kept secret.

Feedback on reforms to the Tasmanian Electoral Act closed a year ago but the government is refusing to reveal what was said, a breach of the government’s own policy on public submissions.

“The Department will publish submissions relating to public consultations once the Government’s consideration of submissions has concluded,” Attorney-General Elise Archer said.

The report based on the submissions was promised in late December.

Submissions on ways the government could reduce the secrecy surrounding electoral donations are being kept secret.

Ms Archer said the government had been busy dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, the first case of which was reported in Tasmania in March.

“The electoral review final report is currently being considered by the Government, however, we have been rightly focused on our response to COVID-19,” she said.

“This is not something that is simple. It’s a complex reform and we won’t be pushed by Labor into a knee-jerk reaction, or as they’ve done, recycled their old policy.

“I’m sure most Tasmanians would want the Government’s focus right now to remain on our response and recovery from COVID-19.”

Ms Archer did not explain why the government was still considering submissions if the report was finished and was itself being considered.

Attorney-General Elise Archer said the government had been focused on the COVID-19 response.

Former premier Will Hodgman promised reforms to the Tasmanian Electoral Act after the 2018 state election at which his party, awash with cash from the pokie industry, outspent Labor by three-to-one.

A review began in June 2018. A first tranche of reform came in an interim report and was followed by amendments to the Act making minor changes, such as allowing newspapers to publish reports on election days, in April 2019. A further round of reform was expected.

By contrast, Queensland started its electoral reform project in May 2018 and the final measures were passed by that state’s parliament in June — despite the global COVID pandemic also affecting that state.

Donations from property developers have been banned, rules around conflicts of interest have been strengthened and the rules extended to include both state and local elections.

Political parties are require to disclose in real time donations of more than $1000, which are published on the electoral commission website in detail.

The issue is such a low priority for the Tasmanian government that the reform process website hasn’t been updated in more than a year.  

Opposition justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad is unimpressed.

“It’s hard to imagine a worse look than keeping secret a report into secret political donations.

Tasmania has the weakest political donation laws in the country,” she said.

“Will Hodgman committed to reform our broken system, but Peter Gutwein has walked away from this and now seems reluctant to act to fix these laws.

“If the Government won’t act, Labor will. This is why we have drafted a bill and are currently seeking public feedback.”

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the government had no interest in fixing the system.

“The Liberals in government are not particularly interested in donations reform, they want to go to the next election being able to secure donations from corporate interests, developers, foreign interests.

“It’s such an insult to the voters and people of Tasmania, as a government that allowed itself to take dirty money from the gaming industry to promise some sort of electoral reform and then two and a half years after the last state election we are no closer to cleaning up politics.”

But Madeleine Ogilvie MP said Labor’s proposal might make it harder for non-party candidates.

“Labor has proposed a $100,000 cap for candidates in House of Assembly campaigns. The proposed cap applies to individual candidates, including independents,” she said.

“They propose also allowing a political party to spend up to a million dollars in the same campaign on their candidates.

“It is unclear how such party expenditure will be captured under an individual candidate’s reporting cap.”

Independent member for Nelson Meg Webb was also not impressed by the delays.

“The process they followed last year, there’s a big gaping hole. Where’s the submissions that they got? They’re nowhere to be seen,” she said.

“And the report which was supposed to be delivered by the end of last year? Nowhere to be seen.

“To have that dismissed by the Attorney-General as she has done in the public domain as ‘we’ve been busy with COVID and how dare people ask those questions’ — the delivery timeline was last year. It was before we even knew COVID-19 existed.”

David Killick | The Mercury | 17 July 2020

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