- Electoral Amendment (Finance and Other Matters) Bill 2023 passes State Parliament
- Delivers on commitment to greater transparency and accountability of donations to political parties
- Reforms designed to boost public confidence in election process
The Cook Government's second tranche of reforms to electoral processes in Western Australia have passed through both houses of Parliament.
The reforms will provide greater transparency and accountability of donations to political parties and candidates, and restore faith in our political system by ensuring greater transparency, accountability and fairness.
In November 2021, the Government passed historic reforms making the vote of every Western Australian equal in the Legislative Council.
The second tranche delivers on a commitment to improve disclosure laws around political donations, introduce expenditure caps for election campaigns, and ban all foreign donations.
Any donation to a political party or candidate over $2,600 will need to be disclosed by the end of the next business day during the capped expenditure period, which is the official election campaign period - from the issuing of the writs to the close of polls.
This has increased from the original $1,000 that the Government proposed, following an amendment moved by the Opposition.
The disclosure improvement means members of the public can find out each day during a State election campaign who has donated to which party or candidate and how much they have donated. Outside of that period, donations must be disclosed within every seven days.
The proposed reforms will introduce a requirement for State campaign accounts, ensuring reporting compliance, require registration of both third-party campaigners and how to vote cards, and increase the rate of reimbursement for electoral expenditure to support compliance with new transparency requirements.
The rate of reimbursement for electoral expenditure was set 17 years ago and will now be increased from $2.26 to $4.40 per primary vote. WA's rate will remain the lowest of any Australian State or Territory with public funding.
This increase will assist with the additional ongoing costs involved in the new disclosure reporting requirements.
The Cook Government is also imposing expenditure caps which will apply to political parties, candidates and third-party campaigners, to deliver fairer election campaigns and a more level playing field.
There will also be new offence provisions for failure to comply with disclosure requirements, expenditure caps, campaign accounts and reporting requirements, and increased penalties for existing offences.
Political parties will also be banned from processing postal vote applications, and will not be able to distribute them unless in an approved form with applications returned directly to the Western Australian Electoral Commission.
As stated by Premier Roger Cook:
"We made a commitment to ensure transparency, integrity, and accountability in the political process and we have delivered.
"Political parties in WA will no longer be able to meet their disclosure obligations by reporting under the Commonwealth laws, which have a much higher disclosure threshold of $16,300. All political entities will be required to disclose donations above $2,600 by the end of the next business day during election campaigns and within seven days outside of that campaign period.
"This means that every Western Australian will be able to see who is providing money to what party, or what candidate. This rule will have the same applications to unions as it does to businesses.
"We have banned foreign donations to prevent foreign interests undermining Western Australia's democracy, and introduced expenditure caps to make elections more fair, competitive, and open.
"These are sensible, well considered and fair reforms which will provide greater confidence in the Western Australian election process."
Comments attributed to Attorney General John Quigley:
"When I introduced this legislation, I dubbed it "Democracy Day" because I strongly believe that these reforms will provide Western Australians with the fairest and most transparent electoral system in the nation.
"It is disappointing that the Liberals and the Nationals voted against these measures to increase transparency.
"In November 2021, we passed historic reforms which introduced a single State-wide electorate for the Upper House, meaning that every Western Australian will be represented by their local Lower House member and 37 Legislative Councillors in the 2025 election and beyond.
"I am confident that these reforms will go a long way towards both modernising and restoring faith in our electoral system, that will stand the test of time."
