MAJOR donors to political parties in this federal election will be able to keep contributions secret for another 18 months under campaign finance laws that keep voters in the dark.

Donations of more than $11,500 made to parties in a financial year are not disclosed until February the next year, meaning contributions given now will not be on the public record until February 2012.

And despite parties claiming tens of millions of dollars in public funding, they are able to keep their campaign spending largely a secret.

Under Australia’s political funding laws, candidates are required to submit a publicly accessible return that specifies the amount raised during the campaign, the amount received in donations and the identity of those who donate more than $11,500.

But in a loophole exploited by the major parties, donations and expenses linked to the party rather than the individual candidate only need to be included in the annual return.

”The system is structured to conceal and mislead the public about what’s really going on with donations,” said Brad Pedersen, founder of Democracy Watch, a non-partisan group committed to curbing the influence of money on politics.

”It’s quite feasible for all these donations to be immediately declared on the internet, as it is in other nations. We won’t know for months who’s donating right at this very moment to both the major parties.”

Election observers say the unions will continue to offer hefty financial support to Labor, while the corporate sector – reinvigorated by the debate over the minerals tax – is expected to contribute to the Liberal campaign.

During the previous term, Labor moves to tighten disclosure rules, including reporting of donations twice a year rather than once and a reduction in the threshold to $1000, were blocked by a hostile Senate.

St James Ethics Centre executive director Simon Longstaff advocated a funding model in which donations are pooled together and then distributed to each political party.

”Most of the companies that are talking about this, when they justify their decision to make such contributions, rather than boldly saying they are doing it in order to secure preference for their own particular interest, they talk about supporting democracy,” he said.

Despite public funding of $2.31 for each vote, political parties do not need to show their campaign spending reached the amount they will receive.

Four states with similar public funding all require parties to account for their spending in state elections.

Deakin politics academic Geoff Robinson said secrecy over disclosure added to public cynicism about union and business influence on politics.

”A clear majority of voters say government is run for a few big interests rather than the people as a whole,” Dr Robinson said.

Related Document

Major political donors get anonymity