The Nick Xenophon Team will attempt to intensify pressure for reform of the donations and disclosure system by moving a motion in the Senate on Tuesday calling for a wide-ranging inquiry reporting by March.
Pressure from the NXT on donations and disclosure comes as the Australian National Audit Office released the findings of a “limited scope assurance review” on financial transactions between the Liberal party and the software company Parakeelia.
Parakeelia, a company owned by the Liberal party, runs database software that enables MPs to develop profiles of their constituents.
The question of whether most of Parakeelia’s revenue began as taxpayer funding became the subject of controversy during the federal election campaign, prompting the ALP to ask the audit office to inquire whether the arrangements between the Liberal party and the software firm were above board.
The audit office found no evidence that the arrangements “contravene electoral and parliamentary entitlement frameworks or that Parakeelia donated any profits from the sale of Feedback software to the Liberal party”.
But the review did find that Parakeelia had lent the Liberal party $200,000 in 2015-16. “Parakeelia advised that the loan was made for cash flow purposes and would be repaid by the Liberal party in 2016–17,” the report said.
The NXT motion, to be moved by Senator Stirling Griff on Tuesday, follows a week of controversy over donations, resulting in the resignation of Labor Sam Dastyari from the Labor frontbench.
It has the support of Pauline Hanson and the One Nation Senate bloc. Hanson’s spokesman confirmed on Monday that all four One Nation senators supported an inquiry.
Donations reform has some momentum among the major parties. Malcolm Turnbull said last week that “ideally, donations to political parties should be limited to people who are on the electoral roll”.
Labor has indicated it would support banning foreign donations, lowering the threshold at which donations are declared, creating more timely and regular disclosure of donations, and boosting public funding for parties.
The NXT motion calls for an inquiry into the funding of and donations to political parties and candidates, with particular reference to: foreign political donations; sources of private (including corporate and union donations) and public funding and contribution limits and caps; alternative funding practices including consideration of comparative overseas models operating in Canada and the UK; transparency, accountability and reporting measures, limiting election expenses and any related matter.
The government has signalled the joint standing committee on electoral matters will also look at donations as part of a review of recent electoral developments but there are no terms of reference yet for such an inquiry.
Griff told Guardian Australia he was very hopeful of securing major party support for the motion. He said some people made political donations in Australia for altruistic reasons but we also had to be realistic. “Money often buys influence,” he said.
