One of the most disturbing trends in Australian politics is the extent to which political donations from special interest groups appears to be skewing decision making.
Back in May, ABC’s Four Corners aired a report, entitled Money and Influence, which examined Australia’s opaque system of campaign finance and political donations:
“We have a system where giving money can influence outcomes and that’s a soft form of corruption… What’s at stake is simply the quality of our democracy and the ability of people to have faith in their political institutions.”
And throughout the post-election period, we have witnessed the so-called “ginger group” of conservative MPs rally against the Turnbull Government’s sensible (and broadly supported) superannuation package because they believe that it reduced political donations flowing to the party, not actual votes (see here, here and here).
Also in May, Fairfax ran a story about how Chinese interests are playing an increasing role in Australian political donations, with a Chinese government-backed propaganda unit and a swag of companies that stood to gain from the China Australia Free Trade Agreement donating large sums to the Coalition.
Now, an ABC investigation has revealed that Chinese-linked companies and individuals made more than $5.5 million in donations to both Labor and the Coalition over the past two years (see here for the list of donors).
This revelation has led to former Treasurer, Wayne Swan, warning that foreign donations could be skewering political decision-making, and calling for reform of the political donation system:
“I certainly think we should be having a stronger debate about the role of political donations and how that potentially is leading to political decision-making being skewed in favour of foreign countries,” Mr Swan told the ABC.
“I’m all in favour of that, and I’m all in favour of looking at tighter control in that area.”
Senator Nick Xenophon agrees:
The influential crossbench senator said he was writing to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to ask for immediate action.
“114 countries have banned political donations from foreign donors, it’s high time Australia was the 115th,” he said.
“The fact that we’re still in a minority of nations that don’t think that this is important I think speaks volumes for our lack of action and lack of consideration of what this can do to our democracy.”
Australia needs a thorough review and reform of the political donation system. We deserve to know who is behind the scenes bending the political system and public policy in their favour.
