{"id":1685,"date":"2014-10-30T09:07:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T23:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sos.asn.au\/?page_id=1685"},"modified":"2017-02-27T14:19:03","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T04:19:03","slug":"political-donations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/political-donations\/","title":{"rendered":"Political donations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">SOS supports political donations reform to reduce the risk and perception of\u00a0corruption and undue\u00a0influence and to reduce conflicts of interest.<\/span>\u00a0Victoria has some of the weakest political\u00a0donation integrity laws in Australia. Australian laws are weak compared to\u00a0comparable democracies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do we need to stop &#8216;the risk\u00a0and perception of corruption and undue influence&#8217;?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Donations over $1,000 should be reported<\/strong>. This should include: disclosure of aggregate amounts and associated entities;\u00a0a prohibition of anonymous donations and requirement that major donors also submit an annual report on donations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Donations should be reported in real time<\/strong>.\u00a0We\u00a0need timely reporting of donations,\u00a0within 14 days or real time disclosure as in certain UK and USA elections, not up to 18 months as in Victoria.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Transparency, unambiguous\u00a0rules and enforcement.<\/strong> We need to reform the current culture of extreme secretiveness, poor compliance and soft enforcement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consider\u00a0a prohibition of donations from Corporations, Unions and Lobbyists<\/strong>. We may need\u00a0a\u00a0ban on certain classes of donation, where there is an increased risk and perception of undue influence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>More information<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Political donations: Australia&#8217;s disclosure regime needs serious reform\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/comment\/the-age-editorial\/political-donations-australias-disclosure-regime-needs-serious-reform-20150729-gin3ft.html#ixzz3hKEniUvr\">http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/comment\/the-age-editorial\/political-donations-australias-disclosure-regime-needs-serious-reform-20150729-gin3ft.html#ixzz3hKEniUvr<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Political donations: why voters are tuning out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/comment\/political-donations-why-voters-are-tuning-out-20150727-gil2vl.html\">http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/comment\/political-donations-why-voters-are-tuning-out-20150727-gil2vl.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Developers with strong political connections &#8216;44% more likely to win favourable decisions&#8217;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2015\/may\/27\/developers-with-political-connections-19-more-likely-to-win-favourable-decisions\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2015\/may\/27\/developers-with-political-connections-19-more-likely-to-win-favourable-decisions<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Petro Georgio recommends limit on donations in Local Government Electoral Review &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dtpli.vic.gov.au\/local-government\/strengthening-councils\/local-government-electoral-review\">http:\/\/www.dtpli.vic.gov.au\/local-government\/strengthening-councils\/local-government-electoral-review<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Victoria needs better tools to fight corruption \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/comment\/victoria-needs-better-tools-to-fight-corruption-20150512-ggyo1o.html\">http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/comment\/victoria-needs-better-tools-to-fight-corruption-20150512-ggyo1o.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>NSW contaminated in comparison to Victoria, says minister on corruption \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/victoria\/nsw-contaminated-in-comparison-to-victoria-says-minister-on-corruption-20150511-ggyp15.htm\">http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/victoria\/nsw-contaminated-in-comparison-to-victoria-says-minister-on-corruption-20150511-ggyp15.htm<\/a>l<\/li>\n<li>Democracy for Sale <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/4corners\/stories\/2014\/06\/23\/4028997.htm\">http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/4corners\/stories\/2014\/06\/23\/4028997.htm<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Political donations: now for some real disclosure<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/comment\/political-donations-now-for-some-real-disclosure-20130811-2rq10.html\">http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/comment\/political-donations-now-for-some-real-disclosure-20130811-2rq10.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Victorian State Election 2014: Push to reform donor laws<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/victoria\/victorian-state-election-2014-push-to-reform-donor-laws-20141108-11j4pt.html\">http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/victoria\/victorian-state-election-2014-push-to-reform-donor-laws-20141108-11j4pt.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>NSW Panel of Experts to report on political donations<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dpc.nsw.gov.au\/announcements\/panel_of_experts_-_political_donations\">http:\/\/www.dpc.nsw.gov.au\/announcements\/panel_of_experts_-_political_donations<\/a><\/li>\n<li>High Court rules NSW political\u00a0donations laws invalid<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/nsw\/high-court-rules-nsw-political-donations-laws-invalid-20131218-2zk8t.html%20\">http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/nsw\/high-court-rules-nsw-political-donations-laws-invalid-20131218-2zk8t.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Political financing: regimes and reforms in Australian states and territories<br \/>\nFor a\u00a0comparative overview of political financing regimes, see:\u00a0<a style=\"line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aph.gov.au\/About_Parliament\/Parliamentary_Departments\/Parliamentary_Library\/pubs\/BN\/2011-2012\/PoliticalFinancing#_Toc319931606\">http:\/\/www.aph.gov.au\/About_Parliament\/Parliamentary_Departments\/Parliamentary_Library\/pubs\/BN\/2011-2012\/PoliticalFinancing#_Toc319931606<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SOS supports political donations reform to reduce the risk and perception of\u00a0corruption and undue\u00a0influence and to reduce conflicts of interest.\u00a0Victoria has some of the weakest political\u00a0donation integrity laws in Australia. Australian laws are weak compared to\u00a0comparable democracies. What do we need to stop &#8216;the risk\u00a0and perception of corruption and undue influence&#8217;? Donations over $1,000 should [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1685","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1685"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2681,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1685\/revisions\/2681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}