The Greens democracy spokeswoman, Lee Rhiannon, has clarified the party’s policy on donations, contradicting an earlier statement by leader Richard Di Natale that supported a ban on donations from unions and not-for-profit organisations.
On Tuesday, Di Natale told Radio National that all donations from foreign, corporate and third-party entities should be banned.
“If individuals want to make a donation, they should be able to make a small donation, a capped amount, limited to individuals on the electoral roll,” he said.
The statement, which was also tweeted from an official Greens account, contradicted Greens policy and a letter Di Natale had sent to the government and opposition that not-for-profit organisations should still be allowed to donate, subject to caps.
The statement sparked consternation from unionists, who pointed out that limiting donations to individuals on the roll would effectively ban union donations.
RDN this morning - would stop unions making political donations. Individualist garbage. #auspol #ausunions pic.twitter.com/ahGlR1TmwE
— Emeline Gaske (@emelinegaske) September 5, 2016
On Wednesday, Rhiannon told Guardian Australia: “Our policy on electoral funding reforming is clearly reflected in the letter to the prime minister and leader of the opposition.”
“The Greens are long-term advocates for a ban on overseas donations and donations from for-profit corporations, and strict caps on donations from individuals and from not-for-profit organisations.
“That is what Richard [Di Natale] and I are working on together.”
Rhiannon said the Greens policy “does not deny working people or democratic organisations a say in our democracy, that would be inconsistent with our principles”.
The Greens also want caps on election expenditure by political parties and third parties and real-time disclosure of all donations over $1,000 on a publicly searchable website.
“The current political donations regime is corruptible because it allows money given to buy influence to flow into the coffers of political parties. Only strict caps and bans will move us away from this space,” Rhiannon said.
Di Natale told Guardian Australia: “What we’re talking about is an end to big money politics, wherever that money comes from.”
“We want a ban on corporate donations, a ban on foreign donations and strict caps on everything else.”
Malcolm Turnbull has consistently backed the principle of limiting donations to enrolled individuals, calls which have been echoed by a number of ministers including Steven Ciobo and Darren Chester and backbench MPs Cory Bernardi and Craig Kelly.
But the change faces constitutional issues because the high court found in 2013 that a New South Wales law allowing only enrolled individuals to donate breached the implied freedom of political communication.
Donations from unions have been a contentious issue within the NSW Greens, who supported the state Liberal government in passing the law which banned them alongside corporate donations.
The NSW Greens currently accept donations only from individuals, but recognise the right of other parties to take donations from organisations.
Labor has called for a ban on foreign donations, but does not support allowing only individuals on the electoral roll to donate.
Rhiannon said campaign finance laws should be uniform across the nation because otherwise “parties will funnel donations from one place to another to avoid them”.
