Campaign Finance Laws Go Too Far

At 3pm on 20 January 2020, QCCL President Mr Michael Cope appeared before the Queensland Parliament’s Economics and Governance Committee in relation to the government proposed electoral law reforms.

“The new laws place restrictions on political donations and on the expenditure on political campaigning, which apply not only to candidates and political parties but also to third parties as defined in the legislation. In the Council’s view the laws as they apply to third parties have the potential to undermine the free speech rights of many organisations,” said Mr. Cope.

Campaign finance laws are essential to our representative democracy. These laws are necessary to avoid actual corruption and the impact of the appearance of corruption stemming from public awareness of the opportunity for abuse inherent in a regime of large financial contributions.

Restrictions on electoral expenditure, necessary for fairness, are akin to the rules of debate in a meeting which restrict the length of speeches and provide for rights of reply. This feature of expenditure caps makes them more acceptable than donation bans or caps.

“Under the new laws, organisations that are not political parties, will be a subject to reporting requirements in relation to their donations and political expenditure where they spend more than $1000 in the 12 month period prior to an election even though, they may not be seeking the election of a particular political party or candidate.” said Mr Cope.

“These restrictions are entirely unacceptable. They will impose significant burdens on many organisations that are simply advocating on behalf of the disadvantaged.“

The Council accepts that these laws need to apply to organisations other than political parties and political candidates, but the thresholds set under this legislation are inappropriate. The Council calls upon the government to withdraw this legislation and to revisit the rules relating to third parties, to ensure that they do not impose an unfair burden on many organisations that will deter them from expressing their views on important topics.

For further information contact Michael Cope President QCCL on 07 3223 5939 during office hours and at all times on 0432 847 154