Where is the money coming from? Albanese, Taylor and Hanson don’t want to talk about it – and that’s a problem

‘The party to get serious about improving standards around money in politics will be rewarded by voters,’ Tom McIlroy writes. Photograph: Chameleons Eye/REX/Shutterstock

When Peter Malinauskas moved to ban political donations in South Australia ahead of the last state election, he centred the case around the distorting effect money has on politics.

The South Australian premier argued that the fundraising arms race was taking up too much time for politicians, as access to party leaders and frontbenchers was increasingly being sold to cashed-up supporters at every point of the electoral cycle.