Federal Liberal MPs are charging between $1,000 and $2,000 for a ticket to budget-reply fundraising events within Parliament House despite rules outlawing the practice years earlier.
Helen Haines, a crossbencher who has been instrumental in pushing for the ban on political fundraisers within the building, said she was “shocked” to learn MPs had managed to find a loophole.
Guardian Australia understands the House presiding officer, Speaker Milton Dick, was not made aware of the fundraisers because they are being held in private offices rather than in public areas of the building. A spokesperson from the Speaker’s office reminded “all members that Parliament House isn’t an appropriate place for political fundraising”.
“The dignity of Parliament House must always be maintained in line with the Australian public’s expectation,” the spokesperson said.
The federal budget is big business for the major political parties, with both Labor and the Liberals fundraising off the back of the annual event.
NSW Liberal MPs including Sussan Ley, Angus Taylor, Paul Fletcher and Julian Leeser are hosting drinks in the parliament, followed by a dinner at Old Parliament House after the budget-in-reply speech by opposition leader Peter Dutton on Thursday. Tickets for the event are being sold for between $1,000 and $2,000.
The event is described as a “private cocktail-style event” with “grazing boards and drinks served” ahead of Dutton’s budget response.
Registration includes a “complimentary” ticket to watch the opposition leader deliver his speech in the House of Representatives gallery, which is a free event.
The events are being advertised separately by the NSW Liberal branch, after the Labor government banned political fundraising events in the “bookable” areas of Parliament House in October 2022. That included public areas such as the Great Hall and function rooms but does not cover parliamentarian offices or the rooms reserved for political parties’ use in the taxpayer-funded building.
A spokesperson for Ley, the most senior Liberal hosting an event, said “all events that the deputy leader of the opposition hosts comply with fundraising rules, regulations and guidelines and this event is no different”.
Haines, who has been running a campaign to bring more transparency to political fundraisers, described it as “bad form”.
“I think that the Speaker of the House made a set of rules in regard to fundraising in what is the people’s House,” she said.
“And yes, this is not in the public area. It’s in the members’ room as I understand. But when you make rules, it’s not just about the rule. It’s about the spirit of the rule. And I think this is really in breach of the spirit of what the Speaker has tried to do.”
Labor is holding its own fundraisers off the back of the budget, with events to be held outside Parliament House at the nearby Realm Hotel and the National Press Club. A dinner to be attended by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, at the Labor Business Forum event at Realm had tickets for $5,000 a head, while the NPC event went for $1,500 a head.
The events are under the disclosure threshold for declaration, which Haines said should be lowered to ensure transparency.
“For me this goes to political donations reform more broadly and around what we consider a political donation and, in my view, a ticket for access to see the treasurer or a senior minister or a member of government at $1,000 a head means that an everyday Australian can’t come buy that access,” she said.
“And, to me, that’s the problem with this and these are below the declarable thresholds so the general public never know really how much access is purchased through these cosy dinners.
“Have the dinner if you want to have a dinner but it should be declarable … the Labor party talk a big game on this but I think they need to get real on this when it comes to these dinners and things as well.”
