12th Feb 2019 – Senate Motions - Donations to Political Parties - Restrict

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Qld Senator Larissa Waters (Greens), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) the Australian Electoral Commission published figures about political donations received in the 2017-18 financial year on 1 February 2019,

(ii) that voters have the right to know which bodies are donating how much to which political party in the lead up to an election, and

(iii) that transparency in relation to electoral donations is critical to the healthy functioning of democracy; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to:

(i) ban corporate donations from vested interests that seek to influence government policy,

(ii) cap all other donations to political parties to $1000 per year, and

(iii) implement real-time disclosure of donations to political parties.