Political Donations COULD/SHOULD Be Reported Immediately

Monash Uni’s Dr Colleen Lewis says:

“There is absolutely no reason why information about who donated to what party or candidate and how much they donated could not be posted on a public website in real time or within 24 to 48 hours after money changes hands. All Victorians look forward to knowing why we do not have such a policy and exactly when one will be introduced.”

Colleen Lewis is adjunct professor with Monash’s National Centre for Australian Studies.

NSW And Victoria Have Different Disclosure Regulations

With the Victorian State Election less than a week away, Colleen observed some weeks ago that Victoria does not have strong political donations laws, as they do in NSW, nor does it have an anti-corruption body with the scope of NSW’s ICAC which,

“on suspicion of deliberate attempts to circumvent donor laws, can make meaningful preliminary inquiries”.

Voters Should Know Who Gives How Much And To Whom

Colleen states:

“There is an urgent need in Victoria to make the reporting of political donations instantaneous or very nearly so. With today’s technology this is an easy and reasonably inexpensive thing to do.”

PWF recently reported Jennifer Rayner of The Conversation saying that her research into the political donation disclosure systems in America, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand, showed that the loosest regulatory environment is here in Australia and that the Australian electorate has no way of finding out who gives what to whom.

In the US there is a dedicated website that discloses all, well before any election.