Australia’s two major political parties are poised to more than double their taxpayer funding to a combined $140 million under the government’s proposed changes to electoral laws, according to analysis by Climate 200, the organization that bankrolled successful teal independent candidates at the 2022 federal election.
The projections, based on voting trends and inflation forecasts, suggest Labor and the Liberal party could reap a windfall of an extra $82.66 million at the 2028 election compared to their 2022 public funding, taking their total to $140.01 million. This includes an estimated $16.53 million in new administrative support funding to be allocated based on the number of MPs and Senators each party has.
Changes rushed through parliament
The electoral reform legislation is set to be hurriedly introduced to parliament on Monday, after Special Minister of State Don Farrell unveiled details of the shake-up late last week. He denied the changes were aimed at curbing the influence of Climate 200 founder Simon Holmes à Court and mining magnate turned political activist Clive Palmer.
“This is designed to take big money out of Australian politics,” Minister Farrell said on Friday. “We’re not targeting individuals, we’re targeting the system that allows an uncapped amount of money to be spent on elections.
We don’t want to go down the track of the American election system. We want to cap the amount of money people can spend and that applies to anybody.”
Holmes à Court: reforms won’t get money out of politics
However, Mr Holmes à Court argued the reforms would fail to achieve their stated aim, telling Guardian Australia:
“In fact, they increase public funding by 2.4 times, biased heavily to go the ALP and the Coalition, entrenching the duopoly,” he said. “Why are the majors trying to ram it through? Legislation this fundamental to our democracy demands scrutiny.”
Key elements of the proposed changes
- Caps on federal election campaign spending of $90m per party and $800,000 per individual candidate, with separate state and territory caps.
- Associated entities engaging in campaigning but not running candidates to face an $11m limit.
- Incoming political donations to also be capped.
- Public funding rate for eligible votes to rise from $2.914 at the 2022 election to $5.
- New $30,000 per MP and $15,000 per senator in annual “administrative funding” for parties.
Based on 2022 first preference votes, Climate 200 calculates the changes would see the ALP’s public funding entitlement rise from $31.4 million to $76.7 million, while the Liberal party’s share would go from $26 million to $63.3 million – increases of 144% and 143% respectively.
Opposition yet to reveal position
The government hopes to pass the legislation with bipartisan support, but the Coalition is reserving its position until the party room can scrutinize the bill. Some MPs have expressed unease at the haste with which the complex law changes are being pursued.
Independent MP Zoe Daniel said the major parties were “effectively cooking up a secret deal that they want to keep from scrutiny because it benefits them directly”. Both she and fellow teal independent Allegra Spender called for the legislation to be referred to a parliamentary inquiry to allow proper examination.
Clive Palmer, who spent around $116 million on his United Australia Party’s failed 2022 election campaign, has indicated he may launch a High Court challenge against the reforms on constitutional grounds.
With the proposed laws set to fundamentally reshape the financing of Australian elections, their rushed passage looks certain to fuel further intense debate about the influence of money in politics and whether the changes truly level the playing field or simply entrench the existing two-party system.
