Adam Bandt has said that capping donations while allowing cash-for-access dinners is a “rort not a reform”, warning the major parties against possible “collusion” to make it harder for independents and minor parties to be elected.
The Greens leader sounded the alarm at the party’s national conference on Saturday, accusing Labor and the Coalition of aiming to “rig the electoral funding system, making it harder for Greens candidates, or independents, to compete fairly”.
The Albanese government has committed to introducing spending and donation caps, and truth in political advertising laws, policies revealed by Guardian Australia after the 2022 election and confirmed by a parliamentary inquiry that reported in July.
The special minister of state, Don Farrell, has insisted that no deal has been done yet and he will seek support across the parliament, but there is rising concern among the crossbench the reform package will increase public funding of elections to benefit incumbents while clamping down on community fundraising.
In his speech, Bandt said the “two party system is dying”, citing Labor and the Coalition’s vote share declining from 98% in 1951 to 68% at the last election, which saw a record crossbench of 16 MPs elected, including four Greens MPs.
“However, there’s every chance we’re about to see the establishment political parties make a last-ditch effort to prop up their dying system at the public’s expense,” he said.
Bandt argued that Labor and the Coalition “won’t go down without a dirty fight, and there may be a big fight coming”.
Bandt cited “rumours in Canberra” and conceded the Greens were “yet to see the full details” of the government’s reform package, but warned members about “what we suspect is coming”:
“Donation caps for challengers, increased funding for incumbents, and a green light for dark corporate money to flow to the political class,” he said.
“If you’re already elected, you get a hefty envelope full of cash, but if you’re trying to get elected, you don’t.
“Loopholes that only the establishment parties can use – such as ... business forum memberships … or cash-for-access dinners – will be given the tick.
“A corporation buying five $10,000 tickets to a Labor or Liberal dinner party is allowed, but you giving a direct donation to a local candidate in your suburb could be restricted or outlawed.”
There is currently no limit on how much can be donated to political parties, though donations above $16,300 must be declared. Labor is yet to indicate the value at which it would cap donations, but plans to lower the disclosure threshold to $1,000 and introduce real-time reporting.
Bandt said the Greens were “up for genuine electoral reform, but teaming up to do a dirty deal would be an attack on representative democracy”. He accused the major parties of “looking to rig the system to stay in power”.
However, Bandt did support the need for “more truth in politics”, citing the voice referendum that the Greens leader claimed saw the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, front a “a Trumpian campaign of misinformation that will set back the cause of reconciliation”.
With 11 Senate votes, the Greens often find themselves in the balance of power, but they could easily be sidelined by a major party deal, which has prompted Bandt to speak out before Labor introduces legislation, expected later this year or early 2024, in time for the next election.
Bandt claimed that Labor “is a centre-right party”, citing its support for Aukus nuclear submarines and tax cuts for high income earners, presenting the Greens as “Australia’s social democratic alternative”.
“This is why they want to shut out people who vote for the Greens or independents,” he said.
Labor and the Coalition insist that no deal has been done on electoral spending and donation caps.
On Monday, Farrell said: “The whole process is subject to discussion.”
He told reporters in Canberra: “I’m having discussions with all of the political parties to try and get some consensus around how we increase transparency and accountability into the federal electoral system
“I think electoral reform works best where everybody is on the same page – and that’s what I’m going to try and get.”
Climate 200, the fundraising body that supported the teal independent candidates, argues major parties and incumbents already have massive advantages.
Simon Holmes à Court, the Climate 200 convener, said he would be watching to see if reforms went beyond transparency towards “locking out challengers and entrenching the two-party system as public support for the major parties continues to decline”.
